Straight Outta 1943
by PumpernickelTwinss
Summary: Tom Riddle didn't mean to send himself to 1996, it just happened. However, once he arrives he decides to start over in this foreign time. Along the way, he meets the mastermind he always knew he could be and the friends he never thought he wanted.
1. Chapter 1

_Disclaimer: J.K. Rowling owns all characters (except OCs) and any other familiar content._

Chapter One: Straight Outta 1943

 **August 21, 1943**

Tom Riddle turned the cold piece of metal around in his long, slender fingers. The Time-Turner was one of the most coveted magical devices. _Now, how does this thing work,_ Tom thought to himself, before chuckling. All the other occupants of the orphanage were out on a trip to the countryside, leaving Tom to freely experiment with magic in the building's basement which he'd been doing since his seventeenth birthday. Tom took a deep breath and tried a different approach; he waved his wand in a circular motion and the Time-Turner began to twist in the air, when suddenly, it fell with a _cling_ onto the metal table. _Well, that's odd,_ he thought. He reached out to grab it, but before he could lay his fingers on its gold surface, a shining light burst from the tiny hourglass and he was vacuumed into the confines of the Time-Turner.

He was spinning rapidly, though he felt like there was no room to move. His limbs were being compressed into his body and just as he thought his bones were about to break, he was thrown into the air and landed with a _thud_ , on the cold stone ground. He sat up slowly, his head swimming and stomach lurching, yet thankful that he was out of the strange portal. After a few minutes, he was starting to feel steady again, so he pushed himself to his feet. And promptly lost his lunch. He straightened himself up and finally looked around at his surroundings.

By all accounts, it looked like the orphanage's basement, but the metal table he had been working with was no longer there. Frowning, he made his way upstairs only to encounter an empty orphanage _. Interesting_ , he thought. Making his way through to the front door, he stepped out. Tom's initial reaction to the outside world was "what the Hell am I looking at?" All around him were cars he'd never seen and people in clothing far too revealing. He looked around the street, noticing that all the buildings were the same, however, they were not the same places. What had once been a barber shop was now a television superstore. Out of the corner of his eye, Tom spotted a bright flash of green and he turned to face the many screens in the window.

"IF YOU WANNABE MY LOVER, YOU GOTTA GET WITH MY FRIENDS….."

He was startled by the amount of stomach and leg that was being displayed with the offensive music. As much as Tom wanted to look away, he couldn't peel his eyes away from the partying girls. _What is happening,_ he thought _, why are these girls dressed in such a way, and who gave them permission to sing?_

"YO I'LL TELL YOU WHAT I WANT, WHAT I REALLY, REALLY WANT….."

"What do you want?!" Tom yelled at the screen, gaining him some weird looks from passersby.

A random man stopped, "Dude, I ask myself that all the time." The man walked away and Tom shook his head and decided there was only one option if he didn't want to get lost- The Knight Bus.

Tom raised his wand and _bam_ , there it was, all blue and shiny. A thin, pimply young man wearing a conductor's hat greeted him, "My name is Stan Shunpike and I will be your conductor today."

Tom ignored the man's greeting and said, rudely, "Do you have today's copy of the Daily Prophet?"

The man handed it to him and he quickly scanned the page for the date. There, up in the top of the page was the date, August 21, 1996. Tom felt the blood leave his face as he dropped the paper. _1996? What? How did that happen?_ , despite his confusion, Tom expertly kept his face molded into an indifferent expression. "Take me to the Leaky Cauldron," he demanded. Stan said something to him but Tom was lost in his own thoughts, and quite frankly, did not care what Stan had to say about anything.

Tom was disappointed to learn that 53 years had not made the Knight Bus any smoother of a ride. Whatever criticisms Tom had about the Knight Bus, it at least was quick, for in a matter of minutes he was dropped off at the Leaky Cauldron.

Tom walked into the pub hesitantly but was glad to see that it hadn't changed much. He took a seat at a table far from the busier part of the pub and waited to be served. "Tom!" Tom's head turned at the sound of his name, "Wake-up Horace over there before he drowns in his mead!" Tom watched as the barman shook his (former?) professor awake. Tom slightly panicked – though it didn't show on his face – he knew that no matter how much Slughorn admired him, he would be quite shocked to see him 50 years after their last meeting.

Which begged the questions: if Tom was here in 1996, did the past occur without him? Or did he send a replica of himself to the future while another copy stayed behind? Was this a new universe or was it just a different time? Tom decided those were questions that needed answering though he doubted he'd learn the answers today. Deciding to forsake the food, he stood and proceeded to enter Diagon Alley. It was just as he had remembered, and he was comforted by this fact until the song from earlier started to play in his head. _Merlin's pants! What do you want?!_ He hoped that he would forget about this muggle trash soon.

He strolled through the streets of the city and a thought struck him, _I should probably see if I can attend Hogwarts this year and finish my schooling,_ _but until then, I should try to find a place to stay._ And so Tom took a turn towards Knockturn Alley and entered his favorite store, Borgin and Burkes. A tall man with long, platinum blonde locks and younger man, not far from Tom's own age with the same blonde hair though his was slicked back and considerably shorter, were standing at the counter purchasing what looked to be a gold necklace of some sort. As Tom moved closer to the two, he managed to catch a glimpse of the crest on the locket. The S that represented the House of Slytherin was engraved on the shiny surface and Tom was struck with an overwhelming need to own the trinket.

"Excuse me, but I was wondering, does that happen to be Salazar Slytherin's locket?" Tom asked the older man.

"Yes, it is, what's it to you?" The younger blonde replied rather rudely.

"Hush, now Draco," the older man told the boy.

Tom looked at the pair, and tried to contain the venom that threatened to slip through his carefully created mask of politeness, "It's just that I've always been an admirer of the great wizard, he is one my ancestors you know."

"Really?" The older man asked, "Well, allow me to introduce myself, I am Lucius Malfoy, and this is my son Draco. You don't look familiar and I'm sure I would've heard from my son about a descendant of Slytherin attending Hogwarts. Where are you attending school, you can't possibly be much older than my son?" The younger man, Draco, leered at Tom.

Tom thought for a half a second before reaching out to shake Lucius's hand, "My name is Tom Slytherin. You see, I've been attending Durmstrang for the past six years but my parents recently passed and so now I am unable to pay the fees for continuing my education at that school. I'm currently waiting to hear back from the Headmaster at Hogwarts about transferring."

Lucius nodded, a brow raised at the new information, "I gather you need a place to stay?"

"Well for the time-being, I've been staying at the Leaky Cauldron."

Lucius smirked, "Nonsense, I won't be having someone of such noble descent staying in that filthy pub. I'm sure my wife would be honored to give you a place to stay until you are able to attend Hogwarts with Draco this year. If you need me to, I am sure I could talk to the Headmaster and make sure you are admitted with no problems, as I am on the governing board." Draco looked at his father with disbelief while Tom smiled and accepted the man's offer. _53 years and the art of manipulation hadn't changed a bit._

 **A/N: Hey, everyone! This is yours truly, Lucky and NutMeg, the creators of this story! We'd really appreciate hearing from any and all of you so please read, review, and recommend! Thanks!**


	2. Chapter 2

_Disclaimer: we don't own anything that you recognize, (except OCs)._

Chapter Two: Say You'll Be There

 **August 29, 1996**

Malfoy Manor was perhaps the epitome of what it meant to be a wealthy pureblood. Upon first arriving, Tom Riddle had been disturbed if not a little confused as to the fact that there were white peacocks lurking about the property and he couldn't help but notice the eerie similarities between the majestic birds and the Malfoys. Aside from the obvious pale aspect that both the birds and the family had, there was a way that the birds seemed to strut about with an air of superiority that strongly reminded Tom of Draco.

Tom had spent the past week charming Mrs. Malfoy, or Cissy - as she now insisted he call her – and helping himself to the Malfoy's enormous collection of books, most of which, Tom presumed, were banned from Hogwarts. While Tom investigated the lovely manor, (he was intrigued by the centuries of magic that were in its foundations) the youngest Malfoy kept a close watch over the guest and was constantly trying - and failing - to catch his attention.

Draco was frustrated, to say the least, not only had his father invited this stranger to live with them, but his parents had also taken to treating Tom as if he were their son and not him. Draco usually loved the summers, he could go out and practice Quidditch, nobody would bother him, and he wouldn't have to deal with stupid Harry Potter and his stupid friends but this summer was different. This summer Draco had to deal with a boy who wasn't interested in any of the same things Draco was; in fact, this boy seemed to be from a different world altogether. Draco couldn't wait for school to start on the 1st because he knew that Tom would never be able to fit in at Hogwarts, as a matter of fact, Draco was hoping Tom would be an outcast so that he'd never be able to outshine Draco again.

On this day in 1996, Tom was sitting on a windowsill and enjoying both the cool breeze and an informative book about every law that had been passed by the Ministry of Magic since that day in 1943 when he was thrown into the future. He still wasn't completely sure that he wasn't dreaming, but he figured that educating himself about this new time he was in could only benefit him. Tom heard the approaching footsteps long before the man said the first word and laid a hand on his shoulder – an action that made Tom's fingers itch with annoyance -, "How would you like to hear a proposition I have?"

Tom glanced up from his book at Mr. Malfoy, before slowly closing it and turning on the window sill to face the older man, "I'm listening," he said slowly.

Lucius looked at the teen before him, "There is a little organization that I am apart of, led by a man called Severus Snape, and I believe that you would be a good addition to our cause."

"And what cause is that exactly?"

"One that I'm sure we agree on: muggles are the filth of society and must be done away with or put into their proper place."

Tom kept his face indifferent but said to Lucius, "You were right to assume that I agree with such a statement; though, I'd be careful about who I went around expressing that view to, Mr. Malfoy."

Lucius's mouth twitched at the boldness of the boy, "I was just on my way to one of our gatherings, if you would care to accompany me." Tom nodded, placed his book on his previous seat, and followed the older man through the manner, out through the gates, and past the white peacocks. He grasped Lucius's arm when offered and was instantly pulled into the compression of apparation. Tom hadn't realized it before, but the feeling he'd had with the Time-Turner was similar to that of apparation, though much worse, he decided, as his feet hit solid ground.

Tom took hardly a glance before recognizing his current location. Malfoy and Tom were standing in the alley next to the store at which they had had their first encounter. Lucius walked without a word down the alley and Tom followed until they were at the back of Borgin and Burkes; once they had reached the end of the alley, Lucius reached out with his wand and tapped a brick to reveal a secret entrance-way.

The door was old, Tom noticed, old and intricate. He waited for Lucius to walk through the old door but, when Lucius waved his walking stick, offering Tom to walk in first, he saw it for what it was. A test. Inside the door there was a large room, similar to that of an auditorium, but without the seats. It was large and airy and it was clearly made for great speeches to be spoken in it. So, why, Tom wondered, was it sitting behind a door in a dark artifacts shop?

There were only a few people in the room, all gathered around a tall man in robes of Tom's favorite color- burgundy. _This must be Snape,_ Tom thought. As Lucius led him to the circle of people, Tom felt a pushing sensation in his mind; someone was trying Legilimency on him. Tom immediately shielded his mind, no one was reading his thoughts without his permission.

The man in the burgundy robes' eyes gleamed with interest. "Well," he said, his voice slimy and dark, "You seem to be quite the wizard. Most people can't protect their minds as quickly as you just did. Then again," the man tilted his head, "Most wizards don't even recognize someone trying to read their thoughts." He stood suddenly, his robes gliding around him like blood.

"Tell me, Tom Slytherin- is there something you wish to hide from me?" He raised his eyebrows. "After all, if you're going to be working for me, I need to know that I can trust you."

Lucius and Tom approached the man and Lucius bowed low and said, "My Lord, this is the boy I spoke to you of- the descendent of Salazar Slytherin. I told him a bit about your plans and he has expressed interest in joining your cause." Lucius' voice shook very slightly. It was obvious to Tom that he was frightened by this man. Deciding to take matters into his own hands, Tom strode up to the man.

"You must be the leader," he stated, "what am I to call you?" Tom's tone was brave, yet at the same time, threatening.

Snape circled the boy and Tom watched him, warily. The man was completely untrustworthy, Tom thought. Anybody could see that. Snape kept circling him and then stopped right beside him. He leaned down to Tom's ear and said, "You will call me Lord, or My Lord and nothing else…boy." He sneered at Tom. He walked back to his seat, and waved a hand at the woman standing to his left. Her wild black hair was long and tangled. Her eyes were dark and they shone with insanity. She dropped to her knees and bowed. "My Lord, do you wish for me to bring out the prisoner?" Tom noticed that her voice was as horrible to hear as her face was to look at.

Snape nodded and the woman disappeared. Turning his head to look straight at Tom, he spoke, "This is what we do. This is what the cause is for. To rid the world of mixed muggle and wizard blood. To get rid of the disgraces that are mudbloods." Snape motioned with his hand for Tom to turn around. There was a long table taking up a large amount of space. And on top of it was a small, round man, who was shaking. "This man, who calls himself a wizard, is a liar. He may have wizard blood running through out him, but it is defiled by his love for muggles and those with filthy muggle blood running through their veins. He must be destroyed, or he will make the Wizarding World a terrible place. Simply by existing."

Tom knew that this man was a dark wizard, but to see him actually torture someone, the first time they met, proved to Tom that this was the right place for him. He would have to, however, figure out a way to take over. He couldn't possibly listen to the overgrown bat much longer. Snape walked over to the table and said to the man, "You should be thankful I'm doing this. Your life would never mean anything, anyways." And with that, he cast the Cruciatus Curse. Tom kept his face impassive as the man screamed and cried. His body twitched along the table, making its way to the floor. Once his body hit the floor, Snape stopped. And then, he whispered a spell that Tom couldn't hear. He saw the effect it had, though.

The man began to bleed out from slices almost like those of a sword or dagger. He began to bleed from his eyes and ears, as well. Tom watched, fascinated, as Snape then stopped. He did another spell, this time soundless and the man was healed. _What?_ , Tom thought, _why is he healing his prisoner?_

His question was quickly answered as he watched Snape perform the strange cutting spell again. Snape did it twice more, healing and then immediately injuring, until eventually; he let the man bleed out along the floor. Snape looked at another one of his followers and snapped at them, "Well don't just stand there. Clean this filthy blood off of my floor." The terrified man quickly ran over and began performing cleaning spells.

"So, Mr. Slytherin," Snape's voice was filled with mystery, "Would you like to join us? Would you like to join The Common Problem?"

"The Common Problem?" Tom asked.

Snape nodded, "That's what I named our little cause. The Helpers of Evil's Command Over Muggles and Mudbloods Offer New Productivity Reducing Other Beings Living Entangled with Magic. Quite the long name, so Lucius and I came up with that little abbreviation over biscuits one day. That's not important though. What is important is if you're going to become a spy for me or not."

A spy? That was what this man wanted of Tom. He wanted him to spy? On who? Tom voiced these questions and Snape answered, "You'll be attending Hogwarts this year, yes?" At Tom's nod, he continued, "There is a boy that goes there- Harry Potter. His father is the Minister of Magic. I want you to become close to him. Get him to tell you everything. Also, the Headmaster, Albus Dumbledore. He has an organization against dark magic, the Order of the Phoenix. Get into it. And assist me in destroying it from the inside." Snape looked directly into Tom's eyes, looking for something. A hint of betrayal or indecision or something, but he found none. "Are you in?"

Tom thought about it for a minute. This was his chance and he had to take it. Making sure his voice was clear and strong he said, "I'm in."

"Wonderful," Snape said, "Oh, and just one more thing, if at any point in time I feel you are not holding up your end of the deal or if I'm not satisfied with the information you're giving me- I can end your life." Tom doubted that Snape could take him in a fight but he was wise to not let these views be expressed.

Snape stood up and walked to the other side of the large room. From there, his voice echoed throughout, a threat lingering in his tone. "Everyone leave. Report to the next meeting right when I call or consider yourself dead. That includes you too, now, boy."

 **A/N: Can you believe how long that name is?! The Common Problem was something we came up with at like midnight while we were having a HP marathon. (Believe it or not the other options were worse… one was literally just "EVIL").**

 **Thank you so much to everyone who has read our story and is sticking with us! We love writing this and don't worry it's definitely gonna end up completed. We should be updating every few days so there shouldn't be much of a wait between chapters (a week tops). What character that died in the series are you most looking forward to being ALIVE?! We'd love to hear everyone's thoughts!**

 **Special thanks to RayhneTess, SarahcaCrane, disturbedintothenight, HootSiblingOne, KnowNonsense, Bertoeshie, adavi821, cosmoGirl666, and bhalesfb for following/favoriting!**

 **HootSibiling: We're glad that you loved our concept! We want to keep this story as original as possible. And we love your enthusiasm! Thanks for the review!**

 **Dbug: you coulda just texted us that ;) love you**


	3. Chapter 3

_Disclaimer: We don't own any Spice Girls references you may see (also we're not even fans) we also don't own any recognizable Harry Potter canon._

Chapter Three: Don't Be a Stranger

 **September 1, 1996**

The Malfoys were always easy to identify at Platform 9 ¾ with their blonde hair and striking features. The air of sophistication that surrounded them was large. and they themselves. did not try to hide it. They were proud of themselves and people feared them. At least, that's what Tom deduced, while waiting for the train. People would walk a wide berth around the blonde family but they stared plenty. Especially when they noticed that there was a new member of their group. Tom made sure to keep his face carefully posed whenever somebody looked at them.

 _Draco Malfoy might be the most irritating person I've ever had the displeasure of meeting_ , Tom thought, _he's rude and immature and he doesn't understand the idea of silence._ Tom tried to pay attention to the other teen's pathetic rattling about "stupid Harry Potter and his stupid friends" in the case that he may receive any beneficial information on getting close to the infamous boy but he was having little success.

"Draco, do please try to give me something I can use rather than just your pathetic rambling," Tom said rather cooley.

Draco glared at him, "That's Harry Potter, there. And the annoying redhead is Ron Weasley. The ugly girl with the bushy hair is Hermione Granger, stay away from her, she's a mudblood. I don't know who that first year with them is." Tom watched the group as they boarded the train, the Potter boy was rather messy looking for being the son of the Minister of Magic and the Weasley boy was tall and gangly not at all how he had imagined him from Draco's constant complaining. The Granger girl, though, something about her made Tom feel reluctant to look away. She wasn't exactly good-looking he decided, but she seemed to have a certain appeal to him. _She's a mudblood_ , he thought, _if anything, you should be thinking about how she disgusts you._

Tom shook his head as he realized the train was about to leave, and elegantly strolled to board the Hogwarts Express. He pursed his lips together and started to look into the many compartments. _Where are you, Harry Potter?_ He started to get that itchy feeling in his fingers until finally he spotted a head of bushy brown hair leave a compartment. It only took one glance into it to know that he had found the right one.

Potter instantly looked up at him from his seat on the bench. The boy was lying down with his mess of hair in a girl's lap. She too had flaming red hair and Tom guessed that she, too, was a Weasley.

"Everywhere else is full," Tom told the couple, "mind if I join you?"

The girl waved him towards the bench opposite them. It was then that he noticed the other head of red-hair and the small girl he'd seen earlier with the group. He took his spot between the wall and the girl and looked around at them. "I'm Tom," he said, a bit awkwardly, which he noted was an unusual feeling.

"I'm Ginny, that's my brother Ron, this is Harry, and that's Kitty," the red-headed girl told him. He nodded politely, of course he had already known who half of the people were, but they couldn't know that.

"I've never seen you before, you new?" Ron asked him.

"Yeah, I've had a rough summer so I'm transferring from Durmstrang," only part of that sentence was a lie, Tom noted, "I'll be in my seventh year."

"Us two are going to be starting sixth year," Ron gestured between him and Harry, "she's in her fifth," he pointed to his sister, "and little Kitty, here, is a fresh new first year," he smiled proudly. Tom wondered how Kitty fit into the picture. She was small, even for an 11 year old, with bright grey eyes and dark wavy hair that fell past her shoulders. She arched an eyebrow at Ron with such grace that Tom couldn't help but think that she had to be from some ancient pureblood or Slytherin family.

"Ronald, how many times have I told you not to call me little?" Her voice was deadly calm and Tom felt a little bit of admiration rise in his chest toward the girl. Ron laughed at her and was about to open his mouth to speak but he didn't have the chance to as Harry spoke for the first time since Tom had entered the compartment.

"Just ignore them, Tom," he said. Tom looked at him, he was a rather odd-looking boy, with electric green eyes framed by circular glasses and messy black hair, _Draco was right, he is rather stupid looking,_ Tom thought. "You have any idea about which house you want to be in?"

Tom considered the question for a second, _If what Draco told me is true, and they're all Gryffindors then I best not answer Slytherin or they'll never trust me, but I can't possibly tell them I'm a Gryffindor as well because even the notion of such a thing makes me want to gag,_ he answered, "Well, my last name is Slytherin so I'm sure my dead ancestors would prefer me to be in that house, but I'd really rather not. I think if I got to choose a house I'd pick Ravenclaw."

"Wait, your last name is Slytherin? As in Salazar Slytherin?" Ron asked, his mouth hanging slightly agape.

"Yeah, that's right," Tom confirmed.

Kitty scoffed, "My father says all Slytherins are evil gits and that I should stay as far away from them as possible. He says the only time it's appropriate to talk to a Slytherin is if you're cursing them."

Harry laughed at that, "That might be the best thing I've ever heard Sirius say."

Tom forced a chuckle at the girl's statement, and said, "Your father seems like an admirable man."

Harry nodded, "Yeah, her dad is awesome, he's my godfather." As Harry said this a bushy orange cat - if you can even call that thing with the squashed face a cat - landed on Tom's lap with a soft thud. He immediately curled into a ball, as cats do, and vibrated with deep purrs. It was at this moment that the group's missing member, the mudblood girl, returned from what Tom assumed was a prefects meeting due to her gleaming silver badge.

"Hey, 'Mione, how was the meeting?" Ron asked the girl. She pushed Harry's legs off the bench so he had no choice but to sit up and make room for her.

"Ugh, first of all don't call me 'Mione; that's not my name," she started, "And second of all, Pansy is driving me crazy. She actually thinks she has any control over me whatsoever. I had to remind her, several times, that she isn't the Head Girl, yet, at least."

"Oh, whatever, Hermione, everyone and their mothers know that you're gonna be Head Girl next year. It's not even a question," Ginny told the brunette.

Tom watched as the group all expressed their support and encouragement to the bushy-haired teen. It wasn't until she smiled and finally accepted all their comments that she actually acknowledged Tom for the first time. Her face showed a small bit of shock before she got it controlled and made her face settled into a distinctly curious expression. She held out her hand to Tom and spoke very quickly, saying, "I'm Hermione Granger. And you are?"

Tom stared at her hand and felt sickened as he shook it briefly. "My name is Tom Slytherin. I'm transferring to Hogwarts this year," Tom felt more confident saying the lie this time. Apparently the more he said it, the more comfortable he would be with it.

The girl's face brightened and she began speaking again, just as rapidly as before. "Well, Tom, I'm sure you're going to love it at Hogwarts. After all, we are the best magical school in the world. I mean…" Tom stopped listening as the girl appeared to be reciting as if from a book.

"You should probably read Hogwarts, A History. It has all the information about the school since it opened. Everything you need to know about the school or the professors of the past are in there. It's an incredibly interesting read." She looked at him directly and Tom couldn't help but think that with her bushy hair and unnaturally wide eyes, she looked a bit like an owl. And the facial expression she was making didn't help at all.

Tom blinked at her, and then said, "Why, yes, I've already read Hogwarts, A History." _Well_ , he thought, _that isn't a complete lie. I have read it. Just not the most recent edition of it_. The edition Tom had read had ended with the year 1940. The owlish expression was replaced by what Tom thought might possibly be the biggest grin ever. She was practically shoving her over-sized teeth at Tom. He leaned back discreetly.

"Why, Tom, that's wonderful. You're the first person I've met that isn't a professor that has read it! What did you think?" Her voice was incredibly high by the end of the sentence. He was slightly taken aback by her immense excitement over such a small detail.

"I thought it was rather interesting," he told her honestly, though with slight hesitation. She seemed to have taken the comment as a personal compliment as her face lit up like a Christmas tree.

"What was your favorite part?" she asked eagerly; Tom glanced at the other people in the compartment who all seemed to be extremely entertained by the exchange between him and the girl.

"I liked when they explained the ceiling in the Great Hall," he told her, he figured that would probably the safest choice due to the ceiling's permanent status in the school. He was saved from further interrogation by the lunch trolley, which immediately gained the attention - and the money - of all the occupants of the compartment. Tom watched the Weasley boy shove a handful of candy into his mouth and Granger subsequently roll her eyes. They were an odd bunch, Tom decided; he wasn't sure what kept them all together, _maybe,_ he thought, _Potter is paying them all to be his friends, or maybe he doesn't know that they're using him to be famous._

The ball of orange fur on his lap meowed at him (a rather deep and unpleasant noise), absent-mindedly Tom started to run his fingers through the cat's soft fur and scratched his head; the vibrating started again. The rest of the train ride passed with little talking, the Granger girl read a book, Potter and his girlfriend displayed a considerable amount of public affection, and the other Weasley and Kitty started a game of Exploding Snap.

When Hogsmeade Station came into view, they all changed into their school robes rather hastily before gathering their things and stepping off the train and onto the platform. Tom couldn't help but pause to take in the beauty that was Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, _if you wannabe my lover, you gotta get with my friends,_ Tom nearly smacked his own head in frustration; however, he managed to keep his annoyance down to that itchy feeling in his fingers. "Firs' years, this way!" a deep, oddly familiar voice yelled. Tom looked around and quickly spotted the half-giant, _Merlin's pants! It's that oaf Hagrid, what if he recognizes me and blows my cover?!_ By instinct Tom looked for something to hide behind, and that thing, was Kitty.

Tom grabbed the small 11-year old by the shoulders and ducked so that his head was hidden behind her back. "What are you doing?!" she hissed at him, it was at that moment that he realized what he'd done.

He straightened up, "Sorry," he told her, "I tripped." She gave him a look, like she didn't quite believe him, but she flipped her hair over her shoulder and walked away without question. Tom turned and saw the other members of the group chatting and waiting by one of the carriages, he walked over to them, unsure of why they had just been lurking there, and as he arrived they all climbed into it and continued their conversations. He wondered if they had been waiting for him.

They included him in their conversation on the way up to the castle though he didn't quite understand who all the people they were talking about were even if they were trying their best to explain it to him. When the carriage stopped, the group all climbed out and made their way up the stairs to the Entrance Hall where Tom saw a tall wizard with a long silver beard wearing robes of deep burgundy, which reminded Tom of that first The Common Problem meeting he'd had with Snape. Though the wizard's hair was longer and grayer than he remembered, the blue eyes that seemed to stop twinkling only for Tom and the long, crooked nose led Tom to recognize the wizard immediately as his old Transfiguration professor, Albus Dumbledore.

Dumbledore gestured for Tom to follow him, Tom reluctantly obeyed, and the pair walked into the nearest empty classroom. Tom took a seat across the large desk so that he sat opposite from his former professor and he noticed that the Sorting Hat - which was looking a bit more ragged than it had over fifty years ago - also sat with them. "Hello, Tom," the old wizard said to him.

"Hello, professor," he replied more out of courtesy than anything.

"The letter you sent me was quite interesting, so do tell me, how _did_ you end up in this fine year?"

"You see," he started, "I was experimenting with a Time-Turner, and somehow I ended up falling through time."

Dumbledore raised a silver eyebrow and laced his fingers together on top of the desk. "Well," he began, "We seem to have quite the situation here, don't we, Mr. Riddle? How did you find yourself in the possession of a Time-Turner?"

Tom was startled by hearing his actual surname. He'd gotten slightly used to the name Slytherin after staying with the Malfoy's.

"Don't call me that, I'm going by Slytherin now," Tom told him, fiercely, "but that's none of your concern."

Dumbledore nodded his head at Tom but fixed him with a steely gaze for a moment. The older man's mannerisms hadn't changed much since 1943.

"Tom Slytherin, it is then. How did you come up with that name, may I ask?" Dumbledore's tone implied that he wasn't really asking - he was demanding an answer. Tom was surprised that the old man didn't push him further on the Time-Turner issue, but he sighed and began to tell the story of running into Lucius and Draco Malfoy in Borgin and Burkes and that it was the first name he thought of, because of the locket he saw them purchasing.

"Mr. Malfoy offered me a place to stay after I explained my story," Tom said, "I told him and that ferret of a son he has that my parents died and I could no longer afford the tuition required to attend Durmstrang. I said that I was attempting to get into Hogwarts, since after all, I am a descendant of the one and only Salazar Slytherin, and Mr. Malfoy offered to write to you. He thought his opinion would influence your decision, you decided to let me in, and here I am. Posing as Draco Malfoy's cousin, of course. Anyway, that's my life story now." Tom looked at his former professor dead on, daring Dumbledore to challenge him.

Dumbledore nodded again, "If that is what you wish to tell people, I will not speak otherwise. Now, onto the matter of attending Hogwarts, you must be sorted again." The man got up and walked over to the table holding the beat-up, old hat. As Dumbledore walked over to Tom, the Sorting Hat came to life. It's eyes were the same as Tom remembered - dark and never ending. Dumbledore placed the hat gently on Tom's 40's styled hair.

"Well, well, Mr. Riddle. This is quite interesting. I can't say I've ever Sorted a student twice before." The Hat's voice was silky and Tom remembered the first time he was Sorted; the hat had barely been on his head a minute, when the Hat shouted, "SLYTHERIN!"

 _Yes, well, this isn't something I wanted to happen,_ Tom thought to the Hat. He heard the Hat chuckle and then say, "You're still a Slytherin. That hasn't' changed at all."

 _No! I need you to put me in Ravenclaw. I can't be in Slytherin. There are people here that need to believe I'm...good. For lack of a better word._

"You're asking me to put you in Ravenclaw to deceive people? That's most certainly an act of a Slytherin, boy. Are you sure you know what you're doing?"

Tom scoffed inwardly, _the Sorting Hat is judging me? Really? A hat is judging me?,_ Tom thought to himself before adding to the hat, _Yes, I know exactly what I'm doing. Now, put me in Ravenclaw. I'm clearly intelligent enough to be in that House. You said it yourself when I was first Sorted._ Tom was quickly losing his patience with the magical clothing item.

"He is a Ravenclaw, Albus," The Hat spoke its decision, Albus removed the hat from Tom's head and placed in back on the desk. He walked back to his chair and sat down again.

"A Slytherin in Ravenclaw. How interesting. Well, you know where the Ravenclaw table is and I'll have a student show you where the common room is after the Feast." Dumbledore stood again and motioned for Tom to do the same. "Now, we have a Feast to get to."

 **A/N: Wow can you believe two updates in less than 24 hours? Sleepovers=fanfiction!**

 **We created a Twitter account so we can better connect with you guys, its PumpTwinss1943 and we'll be tweeting quotes from upcoming chapters and such.**

 **OMG funniest thing happened last time we updated, we made the mistake of letting our friend use my (Lucky) laptop to read the story unsupervised and she reviewed using our account. NutMeg freaked out but I laughed a lot. It's all good though we still love you Dbug.**

 **Anyway, hope everyone liked this one, it was a long one. Who's surprised that Tom is a Ravenclaw?! Who's shocked that he actually told Dumbledore the truth?!**

 **We want to give a shout out to the fic Ultima Ratio by Winterblume. It was the first Tomione story we read and we loved it so much that we decided to write our own.**

 **Special thanks to our new followers/favoriters: asdfmik, tigerjen89, as13119!**

 **Lity: Gracias! Only one of us knows any Spanish (me) and it's only enough to get the general gist of what other people are saying. But we love that you're enjoying the story so far and yes, you're right it is SUPER ironic that Tom is now playing spy for Snape instead of vice versa. Thanks again for the review!**

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 **Also, we've decided to give you guys little hints about the next chapter by telling you the name, so, here it is- Chapter 4: Spice Up You** r **Life!**

 **Well, that's all for now, hope you all have an awesome weekend, wherever you are! See you with the next chapter.**


	4. Chapter 4

_Disclaimer: We don't own anything you recognize from anything. (Especially Spice Girls references or Harry Potter canon)._

Chapter Four: Spice Up Your Life

 **September 1, 1996**

Tom approached the doors that led into the Great Hall. He took a breath and calmly arranged his face into a careless expression. He opened the doors and walked in.

As he expected, everyone turned to look at who was entering the Feast late. Tom strode over to the Ravenclaw table confidently and sat down next to some random girl. She had long, sleek black hair and smelled of Pumpernickel.

The girl looked at Tom and quickly flipped her hair over her shoulder. "Hi. I'm Cho Chang. I'm a 7th year. You are?" The girl's voice was very quiet and Tom didn't like the way the girl - Cho - looked him up and down like he was a Cauldron Cake.

"I'm Tom Slytherin, I'm a 7th year, as well, and I'm a transfer from Durmstrang." He kept his voice cold and hoped that would be enough information to calm her curiosity.

Apparently not. "Oh, we've never had a transfer before. Why did you leave Durmstrang?" Her voice had gotten slightly louder and a few other people looked in their direction. Tom sighed and thought, _this is exhausting_.

"I left Durmstrang because my parents died." He said it quite rudely and then turned and looked at the front of the room where the Sorting was taking place. The girl didn't bother him again during the Feast.

Tom paid little attention to the Sorting and the Feast. The only first year he recognized was the little girl from the train, Kitty. He frowned when she was Sorted into Gryffindor. She really did have the cheekbones of a pureblood. She would have done wonderfully in Slytherin.

When the Feast was finally over, Tom stood quickly. Cho stood up and looked at him. "I'll show you how to get to the Common Room. Hogwarts can be quite confusing for the first few days."

Tom scoffed internally, he knew where everything was. In fact, he probably knew more about Hogwarts than this dimwitted girl. However, he had to play dumb.

"Why, thank you, Ms. Chang. I'm so relieved to have someone be so kind to me," Tom could barely speak the words. _Being civil is so much harder than being rude._ The girl smiled brightly at him and grabbed his hand. Tom resisted cursing her.

She led him to the spiral staircase that led to Ravenclaw Tower. As they walked up the staircase, Cho kept talking, but Tom ignored her. After a minute they reached a solid door, with no knob or handle. The only object on the door was a bronze knocker in the shape of an eagle.

"Instead of a password, we have to answer a riddle to enter," Cho told him. She walked up to the door and knocked with the eagle three times. Then, a voice spoke- "What is it that's always coming but never arrives?"

Cho looked at Tom and said, "I have an idea, but I'd like to know what you think the answer is." She looked at him expectantly. Tom sighed again and thought through the riddle quickly.

"Tomorrow," he said.

Cho looked over to him, confused. "We have to give the answer today, Tom. Not tomorrow." Her voice was drowned out by the loud opening of the heavy door. Tom looked at her surprised face and smirked. He walked through the door and looked around the large, circular room. It seemed to be the complete opposite of the Slytherin Common Room. It was very airy, with large windows all around the room and a domed ceiling. The midnight blue carpet was a stark contrast to the silver tables and couches. There were bookshelves all along the wall, some overflowing with all sorts of different books.

Cho pointed to a statue of Rowena Ravenclaw and said, "The dorms are on either side of the statue. The boys' are on the left." Tom nodded and started walking toward them. It seemed like Cho wanted to say more, but Tom was already too far away for her to say anything.

 **September 2, 1996**

The Great Hall seemed like an entirely different room from the Ravenclaw table. Everything was flipped, it seemed. Tom had received his schedule right after he sat down and it was very similar to his old one, except of course, for the new Professors. Also, there was a handwritten note at the bottom from a Professor Flitwick asking him if he was interested in joining the choir. He wasn't.

Tom's day passed quite simply. He had only had two of his classes that day and now he was in the library, trying to study. After all, even though he's a spy, he had to be top of his class.

Tom sat at a table, reading a book peacefully, when he heard the Granger girl speak, "How was your first day, Tom?"

He groaned inwardly, not wanting to speak to the chipmunk girl. However, he had to get on her good side, so he said, "It was alright, thank you. How was yours?" Apparently people don't ask her that often because she smiled and sat down.

Two hours later, she was finally done dissecting her day, second by second. Tom didn't know if his calm facade was still in place because listening to her talk for two hours was harder than anything he had ever had to do before.

"Oh!" said Hermione, "It's nearly dinner time. Would you like to eat with my friend and I tonight, Tom? They all loved you on the train yesterday." She looked at him hopefully.

Tom shrugged, "Sure, I wouldn't mind that." _As long as you shut up_ , he thought.

They quickly gathered their things and began the walk to the Great Hall. She was quiet while they walked there, thankfully. As they walked to the Gryffindor table, Tom was able to spot Potter and his friends very easily due to the red-headed siblings. Hermione sat down next to Harry and motioned for Tom to sit next to her. And Kitty.

Kitty looked at Tom and said, "What are you doing here?" She definitely has what it takes to be a Slytherin, he thought.

"I'm eating. What are you doing?" The little Gryffindor had a large piece of parchment in front of her and was scribbling on it with a quill.

She looked at him like he was stupid. "I'm writing to my dad about my first day. He and Uncle Remy wanted to know everything." And with that, she kept writing.

All of a sudden, owls came rushing in. A letter was dropped in front of Harry, he gasped loudly, and said, "No." He handed the letter and a clipping from the Daily Prophet to Hermione.

"Peter Pettigrew Tortured to Death by Mystery Group"

The headline had everyone talking, they must've known him, Tom looked at the picture and realized the man had been the same one he saw Snape kill. He didn't read the rest of the clipping or the letter, he just handed it on to the ginger that was consuming food as if he'd never be fed again.

"Who is that?" He asked Hermione. Hermione shook her head and looked at Harry.

"He was a friend of my parents. They weren't super close friends anymore, but I assume my father wanted me to find out from him now, rather than Rita Skeeter tomorrow," He said the name with disgust. Potter shook his head and tucked the letter into his pocket.

"Well, don't be too down, Harry. We've got Fred and George's opening in Hogsmeade tomorrow," said the apparently starving ginger between huge chomps of food.

Harry nodded, "Yeah, but it's still sad, I mean, I've known this man my whole life." The group fell into a respectful silence as they picked at their food; Kitty was the first to talk.

"In other news, Tom over here is a klutz, did you know that he tripped on his way off the Hogwarts Express the other day?" Weasley snorted into his plate and it took everything Tom had in him to not make a rude comment to the boy.

Tom turned to the first year, "I only tripped to make myself seem less attractive than we all know I am. I just couldn't live with myself if I made _another_ person pass out due to my handsomeness." He turned and winked at Hermione and he was satisfied to see a slight blush creep up her neck.

Harry cleared his throat, clearly uncomfortable, "Anyway, Tom, if you want to come with us to the Weasley's Wizard Wheezes grand opening in Hogsmeade, I'm sure Fred and George would love to meet you. We managed to convince Minnie and Dumbledore to let us go down, even though it's not an official Hogsmeade day."

Ginny nodded at her boyfriend's invitation, "Yeah, and I'm sure mum and dad would be delighted to see that we've included another person into our circle. They're always pushing us to make new friends, 'broaden your horizons' they always say."

Tom was conflicted by the feelings he had at her statement, _we're not friends,_ he thought, _we'll never be friends._

 **A/N: Sorry for the shorter chapter but sometimes these things happen.**

 **Haha, so anyway Peter is dead. We don't like him so we thought, "LETS KILL HIM". He was never given the chance to betray them so he was still friends with Harry's parents but since he was always the weak link of the Marauders we thought they probably wouldn't be close anymore. Fred & George were able to open their store because the Weasley's have a "bit" more money in this world than in the other one (this will be explained in Chapter 6) and because we like to think that James and Sirius would love to help them open a joke shop. **

**Illusion Idony: Thank you for your review! We're glad you're enjoying the story so far! We have about 42 chapters planned and it covers about two years.**

 **To the Guest who asked why Hermione, Harry, and Ron are friends even though the troll thing never happened: we could explain it to you right now but that particular question will be answered in detail in Chapter 8. For now, we can tell you that it may not have been a troll but something did happen to bring them together. Thanks for the question!**

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 **Anonymous: Your review seems to be more about our bio than anything? Maybe next time send a message about the bio instead of leaving a review? We're not sure if you mean we gave too many spoilers (we don't really see any) or if we just ruined the idea for you, either way you have our apologies. Also, do we need more original ideas for the story or for the bio because that was also not clear to us (we also were not aware the bio was that important)? Nonetheless, we took your advice to heart and changed the bio a bit.**

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 **Chapter 5 has a lot of Hermione/Tom in it! Its titled: Too Much. Follow us on twitter and we'll tweet a quote from it!**

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	5. Chapter 5

_Disclaimer: We don't own anything familiar that you see._

Chapter Five: Too Much

 **September 5, 1996**

Tom sat at the old table where he used to sit in 1943, deeply engrossed in his novel that he'd nicked from the Malfoy's library. He'd taken a few books before he left as he didn't think his "family" would mind- or notice. He read peacefully for a few minutes until, his book was ripped from his hands. Turning around swiftly, ready to curse whoever disrupted his peace, he saw the Granger girl, holding his book and looking at it with a disgusted face.

"Tom, this is an awful book. I've read it before and I found it absolutely terrible," she said. She handed him the book back and he glared at her.

"I think I can decide what I find enjoyable to read or not, thank you very much," he bit out.

Hermione seemed startled that he spoke to her with such venom in his tone and she blinked a couple of times before retorting, "Well, I just thought that I'd save you the time and trouble of going through the horrible experience I had with this book."

Tom raised an eyebrow, "What _do_ you consider a good book, then?"

Hermione thought for a second before taking the seat across from him. She took a deep breath before rattling off many titles, including, _Hogwarts, A History, The Witches That Built Hogwarts,_ and _Magical Me_ by Gilderoy Lockhart.

Tom had only heard snippets about Lockhart, but he sensed that this man was a fraud. As for the other titles, well, they were interesting choices for a witch Hermione's age.

"Is everything you read non-fiction?" He asked her.

"I prefer to only read muggle fiction and I don't think you'd be interested in any of those."

"Try me," he said, with a scandalous wink.

She rolled her eyes and spoke, "Well, The Great Gatsby has always been one of my favorites, along with-"

He cut her off, "Are you serious? The Great Gatsby was a terrible book!"

One of her hands flew to her mouth and her eyes widened in shock, Tom watched with an amused expression. _It's so easy to get her wound up,_ he thought, _she's such a Gryffindor_. He held back his amusement that threatened to show on his face as she breathed quickly and drew herself up to her full height.

"The Great Gatsby is one of the most important books in all of history. The story is intriguing, the characters are beautifully crafted, and the writing itself is- is- revolutionary!" She lectured, "How do you even know about Gatsby, anyway? I thought you were a pure-blood."

He cocked an eyebrow at her statement, "Of course I am," he told her, "but that does not mean that I can't be well-rounded in the world of literature. Or do you believe we are all self-involved dimwits like my cousin?"

She was confused that he would insult his own cousin like that, _then again_ , she thought, _it is Draco Malfoy, he deserves every insult he gets._ She quickly changed the subject, "So how are your classes going?"

"Too easy," he told her quite honestly, "they're almost boring."

"Do you have a favorite professor?" She asked him.

He thought for a moment, and said, "Well, the Transfiguration professor seems to like me better than my last one did." He chuckled to himself.

Hermione nodded, "McGonagall is great. She's one of my favorites as well. Another one, who you may not have met yet is Professor Lupin. He's the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor and he's Harry's uncle." He noticed she put air quotes around the word "uncle".

"Why the quotation marks? Either he is his uncle or he isn't."

Hermione sighed, "Well, you see, Professor Lupin is best friends with Harry's parents and godfather." Tom thought about this, _I should definitely try to get close to this professor Lupin. I think I have his class on Monday._

"Aren't you concerned about Harry getting special treatment because of his relationship with the professor? I mean, that isn't exactly fair," Tom stated.

Hermione looked personally offended that Tom would insinuate such a thing. Her eyes blazed and she spoke rapidly, "Professor Lupin is a respectable professor and man. He would never show favoritism like that. Besides, Harry wouldn't let Remus give him special attention." She huffed and looked at him, daring him to challenge her.

Tom shook his head and smirked, _It really is easy to anger Gryffindors_. He threw his hands up in mock surrender, "Woah, there. Relax, it was just a question." She huffed at him and he allowed his signature smirk to cross his face.

 **September 6, 1996**

Tom woke up early, as he had gotten into the habit of doing since the start of school. He had been quick to realize that if he woke and went to breakfast at a decent time, Cho would no doubt be waiting for him in the common room, ready to pounce with her sexual advances.

It wasn't that Tom didn't like being fawned over by beautiful girls, it was that he didn't like being confronted by them. It was always the same: the flirting, the light touches, the batting lashes, and Tom, quite frankly, found it all tiring, annoying, and pointless. This morning, however, Miss Chang managed to outmaneuver Tom and caught him on his way down to breakfast. "Tom!" She called. His back-stiffened and his pace quickened but he otherwise tried to avoid the girl.

"Tom!" She called again before grabbing his arm, his fingers tingled and itched and he longed to whip his wand out and curse the girl into the next century, _which is only four years away,_ he noted duly.

"Yes?" He asked her, not bothering to stop the bitterness that leaked into his silky voice.

"I heard that you're going down to Hogsmeade today," she stated.

"You heard correctly," he told her before turning and making his way back down the staircase.

"Wait!" He groaned at the sound of her voice but managed to keep himself together.

"Yes?" he asked her a little short-tempered.

Much to his despite, she started talking again, "Well, I was just wondering if you would like to have me accompany you there? After all, it is your first time in Hogsmeade." She looked at him hopefully.

"I think I can manage," he retorted before turning his back on the girl and continuing down to the Great Hall.

Tom silently took his (now usual) spot at the Gryffindor table. None of Potter's gang had shown up yet, but that didn't surprise Tom, they didn't seem like early risers. Slowly, people began to trickle in for breakfast and before long the table filled with red and gold draped students, including all of Tom's targets. Oddly enough, however, there was no sight of Granger anywhere. Everyone was excitedly murmuring about the Hogsmeade trip, except Kitty who looked the way Tom felt. Silent. Tom looked at her, sitting next to him. She was glaring at her cup of pumpkin juice and pushing around the pile of food on her plate.

She groaned and then exclaimed, "Why does this opening have to be so early?" She pushed her plate away (a first that Tom had seen from her) and set her head down on the table with a resounding, plunk.

Tom smirked at the small girl. _So, she isn't a morning person it seems_ , he noted. Tom swallowed the bit of toast that he had in his mouth and made to get up from the table, "Hey, where you going?" Ron asked him.

Tom looked at the scrawny ginger, "I thought I would head down to Hogsmeade early, since I've never been there before. Figured I'd get familiar with the place."

He was surprised, and a little offended that nobody questioned him again or offered to accompany him - though, he definitely wasn't disappointed - as he stood up and walked to the door. He made his way across the lawn and towards the path to Hogsmeade. As he walked through the gates, he heard someone yell his name. _Granger,_ he realized, with a groan.

He begrudgingly stopped and waited for her. _Calm down, Tom, you have to play nice to these morons,_ he thought. She ran the last few feet until she was next to him.

"Oh," she said, "I'm so glad I caught you! The others said you had left early to go to Hogsmeade. I was hoping I could catch up to you, so I could show you a few places, if you're interested?" Even though it was posed as a question, Tom knew she would show him whether he was interested or not.

"Sure," he agreed, "I'd really appreciate it." She smiled at him and once again he couldn't help but notice the over large teeth she had, _hadn't she mentioned that her parents were dentists? Why hadn't she gotten them fixed yet?_ He debated about voicing these questions, but decided that it would be too rude, and after all, he needed to keep up the appearance that he was a good person.

"So, I thought I'd show you the Shrieking Shack first. It's a very interesting place. In fact, everyone at Hogwarts thinks it's haunted," She told him. He noticed that she said that very skeptically, as if she knew that it wasn't haunted at all.

"What do _you_ think?" he asked.

She chewed on her lip nervously, "I think it's just a silly superstition." He wasn't convinced by her story but he didn't feel the need to press her for information yet. She had to trust him before he started asking the real questions.

"Well, show me this place and I'll form my opinion on this superstition," Tom made his voice playful and Hermione smiled at him.

"It's this way," she said and then she grabbed his hand and pulled him along with her.

 **A/N: Look at all that Tomione :)! Another shorter chapter but we like to think that all the Tomione makes up for it. Next chapter will be longer (promise!) and will feature a lot of familiar faces. Which begs the question: who are you most excited to meet next chapter?**

 **We have a busy week this week so we might not be able to post until next week. Sorry!**

 **Also, FYI we deleted the Twitter account because there was an incident but we hope to continue to hear from you guys on here! Normally we wouldn't have the moderate reviews setting turned on buuuutttt like we said, there was an incident. On an almost unrelated note, try to keep reviews to an actual review and not a personal attack, please! Thank you!**

 **Also we're sorry if we've ruined 22 Jump Street or Straight Outta Compton for anyone and we want to make it clear that we're not related we're just best friends and we aren't pretending to be anyone. We're simply two girls that love Harry Potter and have been best friends for years.**

 **Illusion Idony: Thanks for all your compliments and for sticking with us! You're awesome! We're glad you find us funny :) We put it under Romance/Drama because it is a Romance and we like to think of it as Dramatic Humor ;) When we first started planning it was going to just be super dramatic and kinda dark but then it just got more and more light and humorous. There's still going to be some dark parts though.**

 **Tneha: :) thanks! That was the goal!**

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 **As always special thanks (and a warm welcome) to our new followers/favoriters: RedRose102, Calliope Sparkle, and Lynn Richards! Also thanks to anybody who is reading us but doesn't have an account to favorite/follow us on! We love you just as much!**

 **Chapter 6 is titled: Never Give Up on the Good Times and here is a brief excerpt to hold you over:**

"Who's this?" The balding man that Tom had seen earlier asked as he came up behind Sirius.

"Tom, apparently," Sirius told him.

"Arthur Weasley," the man said turning to the teenager. He held out a hand and Tom sighed internally, _how many handshakes do I have to give today_?


	6. Chapter 6

_Disclaimer: We don't own any Harry Potter canon or Spice Girls stuff that you see._

Chapter Six: Never Give Up on the Good Times

 **September 6, 1996**

There was a large sign over the store, very colorfully proclaiming that this was indeed, Weasley's Wizard Wheezes. Tom walked with Hermione towards the door, hearing the sounds of laughter and smelling sweets wafting out from the store. There was a crowd gathered at the door, and Tom had the impression that the Diagon Alley counterpart of this store must have been quite popular for it to have drawn such a large amount of people to the Opening.

At the front of the crowd, there was a pair of people who looked exactly the same with the same flaming red-hair that the other Weasley's had, _obviously those are twins everyone told me about,_ he thought. The twins were standing around chatting amicably with Kitty and everyone else; Hermione pulled him closer to the orange beanstalks and started to introduce him.

"Fred, George, I'd like to introduce you to our new friend, Tom. He's a transfer from Durmstrang and he's a seventh year Ravenclaw," She pointed to each twin as she said their names, "That's Fred. And that's George. They're two years older and they were Gryffindors, as well." Tom was begrudgingly impressed by the blood-traitors' success. _Only 18 and they've already opened two successful businesses? Quite impressive, indeed,_ he was careful to not let his face betray his thoughts. Tom shook the hand of each twin, and discreetly studied each of their faces, trying to find any small detail that might be used to indicate which one was Fred, and which was George. He quickly noticed that George was left-handed and Fred, right.

The crowd was starting to get energetic and Tom stepped away to the edge of them and observed from there. The twins were standing on the stairs going up to the store's doors. Once again, Tom noticed the beautiful oak doors and how the twins had painted them a marvelous shade of turquoise. The bright red hair clashed with the doors, but Tom ignored it for the time being.

The twins waved to crowd and the one who waved with his right hand- Fred- began speaking, "Hello, friends, family, and associates-" they winked in unison towards a tall, black haired man- "Welcome to the Hogsmeade branch of Weasley's Wizard Wheezes!"

At this note, the crowd gave a big round of applause, the twins motioned for them to settle down before George continued, "Now, as you all know, Fred and I love jokes and pranks, but something you may not know about us is that we also love candy."

Fred gave the crowd a knowing look before raising his wand in the air and yelling, "Let it rain!"

Tom was startled when the muggle candy, Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, started falling all around him in a small circle. He looked to his right, where Hermione standing being rained on by lollipops that oddly looked like the sugarless ones Tom had been given at the dentist.

"Really, Granger? Sugarless candy?" he asked her.

She blushed before replying equally venomous, "What makes you think they're sugarless?"

He shrugged, "I just assumed since you said your parents are weird about teeth."

"Well," she huffed, "Why is there muggle candy falling around you?"

He paled a bit, "My mum discovered them when I was little and was immediately hooked. She let me try them and I was a kid so of course I liked them. I don't know I guess that they just remind me of her." He hoped he told his lie convincingly enough, he thought he may have said it a little too dryly to be believable.

She made a kind of sympathetic noise and was about to reply but George called the crowd to attention, "Without further adieu, buy everything you can!" With that, the giant turquoise doors swung open and the crowd started filling in. Tom and Hermione hung back to let everyone else in without a fight, but when they finally did enter, Tom was surprised by how impressive the interior of the room was, even if he didn't have much appreciation for practical jokes.

Hermione looked at him and pointed over to the towering potions racks in one of the corners of the room. He longed to go over and visit the lovely vials but the great oaf, Hagrid was standing over talking to a tall, balding man. Just as Tom noticed him, the half-giant turned in his direction. Without a second thought, Tom took hold of the nearest person and ducked behind them. A hand grabbed the back of his robes and pulled him up. "What do you think you're doing, kid?" a husky voice threateningly said. Tom looked at the man in front of him, _this guy is definitely a pureblood._ Tom recognized the same high-cheekbones that Kitty had and the realization that he had once again used Kitty as a human shield - this time in front of her father - dropped into his stomach like a ton of bricks.

"I tripped," he said. He internally smacked himself upside the head. _Why do I keep telling people that! What happened to my cool facade?!_ The muggle song from that first day popped into his head.

"You tripped?" The man asked, simultaneously pulling his daughter to stand in front of him.

"Yeah he does that a lot," Kitty told her father.

Before Tom could defend himself, Hermione interjected, "Sirius, this is our friend, Tom." Tom waited as Sirius looked between him and Hermione.

"Well, at least you're making friends," he said, more directed at the kid in front of him than anyone else.

Kitty turned her nose up at the idea, "I wouldn't exactly call him my friend…"

"Who's this?" The balding man that Tom had seen earlier asked as he came up behind Sirius.

"Tom, apparently," Sirius told him.

"Arthur Weasley," the man said turning to the teenager. He held out a hand and Tom sighed internally, _how many handshakes do I have to give today_? Despite his internal reluctance, Tom shook Arthur's hand.

"Pleasure," he returned.

"So, Tom," Sirius began, "What year and house are you in?" He gave Tom a look that made him feel as if whatever he said would be judged heavily.

Tom internally groaned, _Gryffindors and their stupid questions_. "7th and Ravenclaw," he simply stated. The two older men nodded thoughtfully, as if they weren't disappointed or outraged by the news but that it didn't exactly please them either.

"But his last name is Slytherin," Kitty said with a sly look in Tom's direction. _Someone please explain to me why she isn't in Slytherin, honestly._

"WHAT?!" A man with jet black hair and round spectacles that looked extremely familiar turned from his conversation, "HOW IS THAT EVEN POSSIBLE?!"

"James, please, lower your voice, honestly, the Minister of Magic shouldn't be seen yelling at schoolchildren at public events like this," a woman with long red hair and brilliant green eyes placed a hand on the man's arm. Tom immediately recognized her eyes, _if this couple isn't Harry Potter's parents then I might as well just feed myself to the giant squid._

"You must be Harry's parents," Tom observed. He looked around for the messy-haired boy, but he was nowhere to be seen.

Harry's parents smiled at him, well, his mother smiled, but his father still looked shocked that someone with the last name of Slytherin wasn't completely evil.

His mother nodded and pointed at her husband, "The gobsmacked one over here is my husband, James and I'm Lily."

"It's nice to meet you both. I've been so grateful towards your son and his friends, for being so helpful, it's my first year here," Tom lied.

"Where did you come from before?" Sirius asked him.

"Durmstrang," Tom told him, a bit hesitantly. He didn't know these people and wasn't sure who they were connected to.

Sirius' eyebrows rose and his voice was almost accusatory when he asked next, "Durmstrang? You were one of Karkaroff's students, then. What did you think of him?"

"He was a bit extreme," Tom adlibbed easily. _Wow, I am getting a ton of practice lying._

"You can say that again," James muttered darkly. "I've been trying to get that man arrested for years, but there never seems to be any actual evidence against him. Not even the Ord-" before the Minister could finish, Sirius smacked him on the shoulder and cleared his throat. "Anyway, how are you enjoying your classes at Hogwarts? Have you had Professor Lupin, yet?"

Tom shook his head in response, _Why does everyone love this Lupin so much?_ "I haven't actually, but I had his class yesterday, he was ill, I guess."

Everybody standing around him exchanged a knowing glance.

"So," began Lily suddenly, "How's business going, Sirius? Arthur?" Tom was completely aware of her intentional subject change, _what are they hiding?_ Tom decided it was something definitely worth investigating, both for him and for Snape.

Arthur visibly brightened and began speaking to her in a rapidly about all of his - and Sirius's - business endeavors. Hermione leaned over to Tom and he bristled at how close she was to him. "Sirius and Arthur started a flying muggle transportation business. They take old muggle cars and motorcycles and charm them to fly. Of course, they all have invisibility features on them, you can't exactly have cars and such flying all over Britain. But it's a pretty successful business. I'd be surprised if you hadn't heard about it, their products are all the rage," she flipped her bushy mane over her shoulder, "They called it, 'Siriusly! Flying Cars!' Which I think is a silly name, but its seemed to do well for them."

Tom looked at her, his disbelief only showing in his eyes. _Flying cars? Why not just use a broom or apparate? Why spend the money on a flying car, when you're wizard- who can literally just appear wherever you want. Although, I guess it would be nice for families._ "Wait they're the ones who started doing that?" he acted like he knew exactly what she was talking about. Hermione nodded and smiled at Tom, which made him look away quickly. _These people need to stop being so polite- it's irritating_.

Arthur turned to Tom and said, "Sirius really saved my life, we were in deep debt but he came along with this business proposal and Molly, my wife, was a little hesitant at first but we soon were making enough money that she forgot about all her issues with it." He smiled lovingly across the store to where a plump woman was standing, scolding Ginny and Harry. She visibly pulled Ginny away, who began fighting against the older woman's strength. Arthur sighed, "I should probably go see what that's about."

As Arthur left, Kitty turned to her dad and said, "Will you buy me a Pygmy Puff?"

"You got it, Kitty Cat." He smiled lovingly at her.

She rolled her eyes, "Dad, please don't say that ever again."

He laughed, "You say that every time but it hasn't stopped me yet!" She groaned but the pair walked over to the colorful balls of fur that were for sale.

The Minister laughed after his friend left and spun around, "Where's Harry?" He asked his wife.

She looked around, "He's over there talking to the Longbottoms with Ron." Without another word, he headed over to where his son was standing with a round-faced couple and their equally awkward-looking son.

"How's your work going, Lily?" Hermione inquired.

The older woman smiled fondly at Hermione before responding, "Oh, it's just fine. The same as it usually is; you know healing isn't the most exciting career." They both laughed at the last comment and Tom felt uncomfortable with their easy familiarity. The women continued to talk while Tom slipped away to browse the merchandise that the Weasley twins were selling. As he purused the "Quick Get-Away" products, he felt someone walk up behind him. He quickly turned, keeping his hand on his wand.

"Malfoy," Tom snarled, "What are you doing here?"

Standing in front of Tom was Draco Malfoy, who was most certainly not invited to the opening.

Draco walked past him, looking around at the people and the merchandise. He grabbed a product and scoffed after reading the description, "Filthy blood-traitors are trying to sell magical merchandise? it's despicable," his tone was lazy as he continued speaking, "Anyway, I was bored, so I thought I would come check out the party. I have to say, though, it's worse than I thought it would be."

Tom glared at the other boy, "Are you crazy? I'm trying to get them to trust me which isn't going to happen if you keep talking to me, so how about you just go back to the dorms and finish combing your hair." Draco, at least had the decency to look offended.

He huffed and leaned closer to Tom, who was able to smell his over-priced cologne, "By the way, my father wrote to me and told me that the next meeting is to be held on Halloween." He gave Tom a sinister grin to which Tom returned with a blank stare.

"Are you leaving yet?" The older boy asked the blonde.

He shrugged, "Don't be late, Snape doesn't like tardiness." And with that he walked away.

 **A/N: Yay! Everyone is alive and the Weasley's are doing well.**

 **Thank you so much to everyone who has stuck with us. We're sorry for the long update time we've just been busy with Lucky's birthday and school and everything BUT we should be getting back on track.**

 **What has everyone's favorite part of the story been so far? We'd love to hear from you guys!**

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 **Tneha: So glad to hear that you think we're funny! We completely agree with the idea of a slow-burning relationship, Tom isn't the type to just fall for someone willy nilly. Really sorry but Lupin won't show up until chapter 8. He's been *cough cough* ill. We think your idea of having the twins pull a prank on Tom is AMAZING but we couldn't think of anything specific enough to make it work or fit it into what we had written already as we were trying to get the next chapters written so that we could post this one. But maybe if you're good with it, we'll have that happen later in the story :). Thanks for all the support!**

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 **Chapter 7 is titled: Who Do You Think You Are**


	7. Chapter 7

_Disclaimer: We don't own any Harry Potter elements or canon that you recognize nor any Spice Girls references._

Chapter Seven: Who Do You Think You Are

 **October 31, 1996**

The school day dragged on and on. There wasn't anything being taught that Tom didn't know and he was feeling a bit anxious about the mysterious meeting with Snape that was being held in a few hours. Malfoy had cornered him again a few days ago and told him the time and place of the meeting and Tom would be missing the Halloween feast to attend it which would surely be noticed by Potter and his group.

Unfortunately, Tom would have to come up with another lie about where he was. _That seems to be all I ever do now_ , he thought snidely. Tom didn't really mind all of the lying, but he found it somewhat exhausting to keep up his fake persona 24/7. The only other person that knew anything was Dumbledore, but Tom wasn't about to go and have a sob session with the man.

So, lying it was.

As the school day slowly wound to a close, Tom quickly ran up to the Ravenclaw Tower. He groaned as he saw Cho Chang waiting outside of the door. His groan turned into a chuckle as he realized that she must not have been able to figure out the answer. As Tom arrived at the door, she turned and smiled in relief, "Oh, Tom. Thank goodness you're here. This one's really got me lost." She looked at him hopefully. He hardly looked at her as he walked to the door, knocked, and then waited for the riddle.

"Who makes it, but has no need of it?

Who buys it, but has no use for it?

Who uses it, but can neither see nor feel it?"

Tom thought through the riddle carefully. _The answer is so obvious, how did this girl even get into this house?_ Tom leaned in close to the door and under his breath, spoke the answer. The door swung open, he stepped in, and basked in the satisfaction of hearing the door slam in Cho's much too eager face.

He quickly ran up to his dorm, threw his bag onto his bed. Then, he rushed into the bathroom to make sure he looked presentable. Then, he rushed back down the stairs, to the door, past Cho, and down to the Second floor, Girls' Bathroom. It had, quite literally been over 50 years since he had last set foot in the room but to him it could've been yesterday. He didn't even stop when he heard the ghost of Moaning Myrtle scream at him as he crossed over to the sink that he knew held the crest of his ancestor and hissed at the snake in Parseltongue.

He dropped down onto the slide and gracefully stood up in the dark, damp, dungeon-like room. Brushing his robes off, he stepped across the crunching bones. Tom approached the large, circular entrance and hissed the magic word.

The large stone snake began making it's way around the circle, pushing back the locks. Tom waited until it opened all the way before stepping in. As Tom walked into the Chamber, he groaned. The idiotic Muggle song was stuck in his head, _again_. Tom glanced around quickly, checking to see if Snape was here yet, when he saw that the chamber was empty, Tom relaxed a bit. He wasn't exactly scared of the large bat, but there was a certain edge about Snape; a certain feeling of madness.

Tom stood at the center of the Chamber, waiting for the arrival, wondering if Snape would be satisfied with his report. With a loud crack, Snape appeared, his hand was being clung on to by a house-elf with large tennis-ball like eyes. Tom glanced at the creature with a slight tilt of his eyebrow, "Leave us," Snape told the elf, "come back only when I call you."

The elf bobbed his head and his eyes twitched nervously towards Tom. "Yes, Lord, Sir," he told Snape in a high-pitched, squeaky voice before disapparating.

The sound of Snape's slow, meticulous voice called Tom back to the business at hand, "He's one of Lucius's elves, perhaps you've seen him before. Dobby, I believe his name is." Tom shrugged, he had in fact seen many elves at the Malfoys'; though, they usually would skirt away whenever approached.

"I can't say that I've paid too much attention to the help," Tom replied, cooly.

"Well, shall we get to business then?" Snape carried on.

Tom nodded, "I attended the Weasley twins' grand opening in Hogsmeade and met the Potters and their friends."

"And?" Snape urged him to continue.

"Well, I didn't get much information, due to the event. But, I overheard and figured out a few things," Tom let the words hang there, taunting Snape.

Snape prowled around Tom, surveying him much in the way that a lion stalked a gazelle; his sapphire robes billowed around him and shimmered in the dim light of the chamber. "Well," Snape snarled, "Tell me what you know, boy. Or do I have to remind you of our agreement?"

Tom resisted the urge to roll his eyes at the man adorned in robes that could've been found in an issue Witch Weekly, "Well, for one thing, the Weasleys seem to be indebted to Sirius Black." He waited for Snape to think through this information, he could almost see the gears spinning under the mass of luscious black locks.

"The Weasleys? Interesting. I don't have much information on them. This is quite helpful indeed. Do see what else you can find on them."

"Yes, _my Lord_ ," Tom stressed the last two words almost mockingly, "And James Potter almost let it slip that he's in the Order."

Snape stopped his pacing at this comment, his eyes gleaming with interest, "Did he now? The Minister of Magic? Joining an illegal, underground society? Very interesting, indeed."

Tom watched Snape. He was standing still, not speaking, and Tom was beginning to wonder if the info he'd provided would be enough to keep him alive. For half a minute his heart thudded in his chest so loudly that he was afraid Snape could hear it. 

"Mr. Slytherin," Tom was startled by the change of name, "I truly appreciate all that you're doing for The Common Problem. I'll send Dobby to you with the next meeting date sometime this week. Be ready." Snape turned and stalked towards the House-Elf, who had just appeared and was shaking with fear. He held out a small hand, but Snape ignored it and instead grabbed the elf's large ear and with the loud noise of disapparating, Snape was gone.

Tom was about to leave the chamber when another loud crack sounded behind him. Whirling around, Tom saw Lucius standing there with such an air of sophistication that Tom couldn't help but be reminded of the peacocks.

"Was he pleased with the information you gave him?" Lucius asked in his velvety voice.

Tom shrugged and said, "I'm still alive, so he must have been pleased with something." He watched as Lucius' face grew into an ecstatic expression.

"That's wonderful, Tom. You've been such a good asset to The Common Problem. It's amazing what you could accomplish in such a short time." Lucius was still smiling when he stopped talking, which Tom thought was fairly out of character for him.

Tom nodded, a bit hesitantly, _What has gotten into this man?_

Lucius began talking again, "Anyway, Narcissa and I would like to invite you to spend your Christmas holidays with us, at Malfoy Manor. What do you say?"

Tom was flabbergasted, he had never had a place to go to during the winter holidays before, "It would be my pleasure," Tom told him without a second thought.

Lucius placed a fatherly hand on Tom's shoulder, before turning to his house-elf and disapparating out of the chamber. Tom watched the spot where he had left and thought, _maybe I'll be able to make it to the feast after all._ And with that, he left.

 **A/N: Hope everyone's doing well! Anyone give any thought to that riddle? Send us your answers… no cheating!**

 **We love all the feedback we're getting and are glad that people seem to be enjoying this! We have a ton of fun writing and can't wait for you guys to see what's in store! Please keep reviewing, favoriting, following, recommending, and reading! We love you!**

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 **We've been experiencing some busy schedules and writers block but expect the next chapter soon! Chapter 8 is called: Saturday Night Divas. Try and figure out what THAT means :).**


	8. Chapter 8

**THIS CHAPTER HAS BEEN REVISED**

 _Disclaimer: We do not own any canon from Harry Potter or Spice Girls songs._

Chapter Eight: Saturday Night Divas

 **November 1, 1996**

Tom lurked along the corridor, waiting for the Gryffindor that would be stupid enough to let him into their Common Room. It wasn't as scandalous to have students from different Houses intermingle as it had been back in the 40's but Tom still felt awkward trying to get into his former rivals' domain. He was leaning against a wall when he heard very light footsteps. _Ah_ , he thought, _my prey has arrived; come to me, small lion_. When the footsteps finally turned the corner, he was shocked to see Kitty. She stopped right as she saw him and frowned, "What are _you_ doing here?" He was slightly insulted by her accusatory tone.

He mocked being stabbed in the chest, "My dear, Kitty, your words wound me so!"

She rolled her eyes, and with a voice dripping with false politeness she replied, "My apologies, good sir. What business have you here?"

"I," he started, "am awaiting a brave and kind-hearted Gryffindor, such as yourself to allow me entrance into this esteemed tower." The praise, no matter how obviously fake, gave him a feeling as if he were swallowing lava. Kitty watched him for a minute, her eyes sharp, reminding him all too much of one of the wardens at the orphanage.

Tom waited as Kitty gave the password to the Fat Lady's portrait, "Angelizeggy." Tom was confused, _Angelizeggy? Is that even a word?_ Before he had time to fully process the strange noise he'd just heard, Kitty stopped just inside the Common Room, put her hands on her hips, and said, "So are you coming in or what?"

Tom quickly followed her, but just as he got situated in the (obnoxiously red and gold) room he heard shouting from the upstairs dormitories.

"THINK WHATEVER YOU WOULD LIKE TO, RONALD. OBVIOUSLY WHATEVER I SAY DOESN'T GET THROUGH YOUR THICK SKULL ANYWAY," Hermione huffed, and threw her bushy mane over her shoulder as she stormed into the sitting area.

"Look, 'Mione, _everyone_ thinks that you and Tommy boy are a thing! Excuse me for just trying to help clear the air about this!" Ron's face was as red as his hair.

She let out a low, almost growl like sound, as she whipped back to face him, "Even," she hissed, "if it WAS true, _you,_ my _friend_ , lost the right to be jealous last year!" She turned back around and stormed towards the portrait hole, saw Tom, and, in a last moment decision grabbed his arm and pulled him along with her. As they left the room she yelled back at Ron, "He would be a better boyfriend than you were anyway!"

Tom was confounded, "Tommy?" he asked her.

She groaned, "Of everything you just heard, _that_ is what you focused on?"

Tom shrugged, "I'm very picky about my nicknames. I don't just let anybody call me anything, you know."

Granger sighed, "It's something Ron has taken to calling you when you're not around."

Tom was offended briefly, _Tommy? Of all the derivatives of Tom he went with the most mundane, uncreative, childish name possible. Even Thomas would have been better. In fact, I'd even prefer Riddle to 'Tommy'._ He shook his head, "Moving on… what happened between you two? You said something about last year?"

She took his hand and pulled him into a nearby, secluded alcove.

"Ronald believes…" She paused and sighed before continuing, "He believes that just because we dated for about three weeks last year, that he has a say in whoever I do, or do not, date."

"And he believes that you... and I? You know? That..." This conversation was making Tom more and more uncomfortable, and if her steadily reddening face was any indicator, she felt the same way about it as he did.

"That's ridiculous. We would...I mean, I would never…" This was a conversation that was painful for everyone involved, even the portraits on the walls were groaning and smacking their foreheads. A ghost floated by, and upon hearing the last statement, looked at them both and laughed.

Tom and Hermione awkwardly avoided looking in the other's general direction.

"How did you even become friends with them in the first place?" Tom asked her.

She looked glad for the change of topic and a small smile lit up her face, "Well, you see I became friends with Neville Longbottom - I don't know if you know him - and his family is friends with Harry's family so I tagged along with them for a little bit in first year. I always thought Harry was a little arrogant so he and I didn't really get along and Neville and I ended up going our own direction the rest of the year. Second year, though, your cousin was bullying Neville for messing up a potion and I went to go defend him, but Malfoy just ended up saying rude things about my teeth and hair and something about me looking like a chipmunk or some other sort of rodent like that," she took a breath before continuing, "It really hurt my little twelve year old feelings and Neville is super empathetic and went to my defense by drawing his wand. Malfoy easily beat him and just as he was about to jinx me, Harry and Ron turned up and we've been best friends ever since!" She smiled fondly at the memory.

Tom was stunned at how she was able to tell such a long story in what seemed like only two breaths. "Wow," he said lamely.

She nodded, "So, are you going to that party tonight in the Room of Requirement?"

He nodded, "I suppose so." In fact, he had completely forgotten there was a party at all.

"Want to walk over there together?"

He shrugged, _I don't really want to walk with her but I can't exactly say no. Though, I'm sure we'll find something to say to each other to end this infuriating perpetual awkwardness._ "Let's go." Thankfully, Tom realized that the party was being held just around the corner and so the majority of their venture was just walking back and forth three times thinking, _get me into the party, get me into the party, get me into the party._

A few moments later the door appeared. It didn't look any different than a regular classroom door, except for the color- it was a bright, neon orange with confetti hanging off of it. As they stood outside of it, Tom heard the faint sounds of laughter and music coming from behind the extravagant door. He gestured towards the door, motioning for Hermione to go in before him. She brushed past him and pulled the door open.

Tom was appalled; this was no 1943 party. There were flailing limbs in what he assumed was a form of dance and the smell of alcohol was overpowering and the music was atrocious and playing from an enchanted record. Tom wanted to curse his ears off. Hermione had walked right in and found Potter so quickly, Tom wondered if she had a tracking spell on him. He watched the bushy-haired girl wander away from him and for the first time he was able to truly gauge the outfit that she was wearing. There was a huge difference in her appearance and the other girls in attendance. Granger was wearing tights and a nice, but simple, dress.

Tom moved to follow her as she wove her way through the crowd to the back of the room, but he was virtually attacked by that Chang girl; it didn't take long for him to notice that her hair was longer than her dress. "Hey Tom," she said in what he supposed was supposed to be a seductive voice.

"Excuse me, I'm trying to walk," he said.

"Where?" she asked confusedly.

"Anywhere that you aren't," he replied before pushing past her to meet up with Potter and the rest of the messy haired boy's friends, though he was disappointed to see that Kitty was nowhere to be found. Weasley was there, guzzling down a bottle of Firewhiskey and determinedly avoiding Hermione. Immediately, the group involved Tom in their session of drunkenly complaining about everything; ranging from teachers to Quidditch outcomes to family matters. It was rather obnoxious to hear all these complaints but he was intrigued all the same. As the time passed, Tom could feel his senses begin to dull and his inhibitions lower. At one point, Hermione asked him to dance... but he politely declined.

Slowly, people began to filter out of the room until only the two Weasleys, Granger, Potter, and a boy named Neville remained. Granger and the male Weasley were bickering in a corner of the room while the female and Neville attempted to waltz around. Potter came over to Tom and slurred, "I'm so glad we're friends, mate," he chuckled and Tom's fingers itched, "you're a great guy. I wouldn't be surprised if the Order tried to recruit you as soon as you graduate." He frowned, "I wish _I_ could be in it. But nooooo apparently I'm too 'young'," he raised his arms up to make air quotes but instead his arms just flopped about. Potter rubbed his nose, causing his glasses to shift so that they sat diagonally on his face. "But you know what?" He continued, "I know for a fact that I could help them take down Snape. I mean I'm pretty sure Malfoy's family has to be involved somehow. Hey! Aren't you his cousin? You could find out right?"

Tom paused and struggled with a way to avoid the question, "Er, well-" at that moment, the bright orange doors were thrown open.

"Remus!" Harry cried, "Quick! Everyone hide!" He shoved his bottle of fire whisky at Tom. Tom looked at his Defense Against the Dark Arts professor, he was as shabby as he'd been all week, _can't this man get a decent pair of robes?_ Tom thought.

"Let's see," the professor counted each of the people in the room, "20 points from each of you. So that's 100 points from Gryffindor and 20 from... I'm sorry, what house are you in again?"

"Sly- Ravenclaw," Tom couldn't believe he'd almost slipped up.

"That's right, Mr. Slytherin, yes?" Lupin inclined his head towards Tom.

Tom nodded, "That's right, sir."

Lupin glanced at the state of disarray that the room and it's inhabitants was in, "You don't seem as impaired as the others," he stated.

Tom shrugged, "I'm not a big party person."

"Can I trust you to help me get these guys back to the dorms?" Tom really didn't want to, all he wanted was to go back to his room and sleep.

"Of course, Professor," Tom tried to keep the irritation out of his voice. The pair corralled the others into a large group and ushered them out the door. Ron kept shouting and then laughing when everyone would tell him to shut-up. Eventually, Tom hit him with a silencing charm, which caused Ron's face to turn red with anger. He lunged for Tom but tripped over his own feet and landed with a thud on the cold stone floor. "Having trouble, Ronny?" Tom grinned at him.

Lupin looked down at Ron and sighed and Tom got the feeling this wasn't the first time this had happened. He reached down and pulled Ron up by the arm. The troupe made their way around the corner and Lupin and Tom pushed everyone through the portrait hole.

"You think we should make sure they get to bed?" The professor asked Tom.

"Eh, they did this to themselves. Besides, it's not like they'll be able to hurt themselves too intensely."

"Thank you for your help. I think you ought to go back to your dorm now," Lupin said.

Tom nodded and started walking back to the Ravenclaw Tower. As he walked, he couldn't help but think back about all the funny things that everyone had said over the course of the night. He thought about how Harry had said that he was a "great guy". Tom had never thought of himself as a "great" anything - except for in the powerful sense of the word - before. These people seemed to like him for some reason and he just couldn't figure out what they found so interesting about him. _Well, one thing is for sure: if they knew what I did last year they wouldn't be so eager to be friends with me._

There might of been a time when this thought would've consoled him, but at this point all he could think about was that damn song from the Muggle television shop.

 **A/N: WE ARE SO SORRY THAT WE TOOK SO LONG TO UPDATE. Don't worry after today, updates should become more regular (hopefully).**

 **This hasn't been edited because we felt like we wanted to post it as soon as possible but an edited version of it will probably be posted soon. *EDIT: THE UPDATED VERSION HAS POSTED, THE BIGGEST CHANGE IS THE ADDITION OF HARRY/HERMIONE/RON'S BACKGROUND STORY.**

 **HERE WE FINALLY MEET REMUS! YAY!**

 **We figured since Harry has grown up under the influence of both his father AND Sirius.. a party wouldn't be too extreme of a thing to add to the story.**

 **As ALWAYS (WE LOVE YOU):**

 **Thanks to: PotterHead612, charis-chan, yaasmi, , Crisstina20, RobinQ, and cafeina for favoriting/following as well as anybody else who reads Straight Outta 1943!**

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 **SkittleLuvr.x3: Thanks! Lucius and Snape apparated into the chamber with the help of Dobby since House Elves can apparate in/out of Hogwarts. We're assuming Tom showed Dobby the Chamber beforehand or sent a description of it to the Lucius before the meeting.**

 **Next chapter is: Time Goes By. Thanks for sticking with us!**


	9. Chapter 9

_Disclaimer: We don't own anything from Harry Potter_

Chapter Nine: Time Goes By

 **December 7, 1996**

Hermione yawned and attempted to run her fingers through her tangled hair. She shuffled towards the bathroom and looked at her reflection before grabbing her toothbrush and thoroughly brushing her teeth. _Okay,_ she thought, _I finished my Charms and Transfiguration essays, so why do I feel like I'm forgetting something?_ She ran through her list of homework again and spit. It wasn't until she looked back into the mirror that she realized, _HOLY COW I'M GOING TO HOGSMEADE WITH TOM TODAY._ She snatched up her brush and quickly tried to brush through her unruly hair, the yanking brought tears to her eyes and she had to purse her lips together in order to not cry out in pain.

After the long battle with her wild hair, she went over to her wardrobe to decide what was appropriate for this outing. She ruffled through all her clothes before huffing and rushing out the door to the 5th year dorms on the floor below her. "Ginny, Ginny, wake-up!" She told her friend.

The red-head rolled over, "Hermione? What are you doing? It's Saturday."

Hermione looked around the rest of the room, "I need your help. I can't find anything to wear and my hair's a mess and I'm supposed to meet Tom in Hogsmeade in two hours.

Ginny looked at Hermione like she'd suddenly sprouted cat ears and a tail. "We'd better get moving then, huh?"

The pair made their way back up to the sixth year's dorm. Ginny managed to do a few spells to tame Hermione's hair and as she bustled around doing the older girl's make-up she asked, "So, how did he ask you?"

"What do you mean?" Hermione asked her.

"Well, you said you're going to Hogsmeade with him. How'd he ask you out? He doesn't seem like the type to just come right out and ask."

Hermione blushed, "Well, he didn't exactly ask me _out_. It was more of a mutual agreement to check out that old bookstore together."

Ginny rolled her eyes, _of course Hermione would find someone to look at bookstores with,_ she thought."So this isn't even a date?"

"It could become one," Hermione pointed out a little too hopefully.

Ginny sighed, "Don't get your hopes up too high, Hermione. Tom doesn't seem like the kind of guy to be casual about dating. Or even date at all for that matter. He's a little closed off, haven't you noticed?"

Hermione chewed on her lip and looked at Ginny, "Obviously I've noticed that. I just think we don't know him well enough to make any judgements about how he feels about this sort of thing. Maybe he isn't as closed off as he appears."

"Alright," Ginny said, "you're all ready for the day. Have fun!"

She ushered the other girl out the door. Hermione could feel her heart beating nervously in her chest as she walked down the stairs and through the Common Room. On her way to the Entrance Hall, Hermione stopped to grab a piece of toast, where she saw Kitty talking to a fellow Gryffindor that Hermione recognized from a few of her classes. "Hey, Kitty!" She called.

Kitty turned and parted from her friend, "Hey, 'Mione!" Hermione groaned. _Why has everyone started calling me that?_ "Where you going?" Kitty asked her.

"I'm going down to eat this toast down by the lake, care to join me?" The younger girl nodded and followed her out.

The weather wasn't quite warm enough to be outside, but it was pleasant enough. The two girls enjoyed a nice chat by the lake before Hermione checked her watch and realized that if she wanted to meet Tom in Hogsmeade on time, she should leave.

"I should probably get started on my way now," she told her.

"I'll walk with you for a little bit," Kitty said; and so, the two started walking across the lawn. Kitty made a joke but Hermione wasn't paying attention. Instead, she was focusing on the figure of Ron running towards them.

"Hermione, Kitty. Help. Harry - he - come-" Ron stopped and gasped for breath before continuing, "He's fighting someone! This hooded man just jumped out and started attacking him and now he's fighting him! He sent me for help. Come on!"

Hermione and Kitty looked at each other before running after Ron towards the Forbidden Forest. Just as they arrived, the hooded man shot a curse at Harry that he was not quick enough to dodge. Upon hitting him, his chest split open in a series of deep cuts.

Hermione screamed, Kitty gasped loudly at the sight of blood streaming from Harry's chest, and the hooded figure took off into the forest. Hermione whipped out her wand to try to heal Harry, "Kitty go get help!"

Kitty ran and Hermione said a silent prayer that her best friend would live.

Tom was about halfway down the path to Hogsmeade when a tiny body ran right into him. He glanced down, ready to curse whoever it was that had hit him when he saw the grey eyes of Kitty staring up at him, "Oh! Tom! Thank Merlin! Quick you have to go down to the forest! Harry is dying and he needs help! I'm going to go find a professor but you have to go! Hermione is down there but I think she doesn't know what to do."

Tom barely let the words hit his ears before he sprinted towards the forest. _I've never actually ran this hard in my entire life. What am I doing?! Oh my God this is awful,_ he tried not to think about the uncomfortable stitch in his side. He heard Harry scream, _I'm almost there,_ he thought _._ When he arrived, he saw Harry on the ground and Hermione leaning over him saying the same spell over and over again, Tom could tell that it was keeping Harry's life on the line but she wasn't going to be able to do that forever. Upon closer arrival, he realized that whoever had cast this on him had used the same spell that Snape had used on Pettigrew during that first meeting.

" _It's a spell of my own invention,"_ Snape had told him on their third meeting. Tom pushed Hermione out of the way and waved his wand in a circular motion of the bespectacled boy, _Vulnera Sanentur_ , he quietly chanted over and over again. Harry's blood began to stop flowing out of him and his wounds started to stitch themselves back together until finally his wounds were closed and his breath evened out.

Kitty and Dumbledore arrived and the old wizard conjured a stretcher to carry Harry to the Hospital Wing on. As Tom, Ron, Hermione, and Kitty followed Dumbledore up to the castle, nobody spoke.

Tom looked at Hermione who was looked like someone had painted on her with blood and flinched. He didn't like the idea of her being covered in blood, even if it wasn't hers. He shook his head to try and get rid of the sentimental thought and turned his thoughts to Weasley who was shaking, _how pathetic_ , _not even the 11-year old is that freaked out._

As they passed through the halls, people stared and whispered and Hermione's foot hit one of the steps awkwardly and she tripped. As she started falling, she grasped Tom's arm to steady herself. He looked down and noticed the bloody handprint that she had left on his robes. It wasn't the blood that bothered him, it was the fact that now he had a messy handprint on his otherwise impeccably cared for robes.

Madam Pomfrey bustled about Harry dropping dittany on his wounds and giving him blood replenishing potion. "Out! Out! All of you!" she ordered them.

Ron and Hermione protested vigorously, and Madame Pomfrey eventually agreed to let them - and only them - stay until his parents arrived. Tom and Kitty left the Hospital Wing but Kitty refused to leave the corridor. She sat down on the ground and Tom knew it would be a long time before she moved, and for some unknown reason, he didn't feel like leaving her by herself, so he stayed behind to keep her company.

It was awkward to say the least, they sat there in silence and Tom wasn't sure what to do. If he were honest, he didn't even know why he was still sitting on the hard ground with the stubborn Gryffindor.

It had been about half an hour and Kitty hadn't said anything until suddenly, she stood up and yelled, "Dad!"

Tom looked up and saw the Potters and Black storming down the corridor, Black dropped to his knees in front of Kitty and grabbed his daughter in a fierce embrace. The Potters continued on without him and burst into the Hospital Wing. Sirius, reluctantly, stood, took his daughter's hand, and said to Tom, "Thank you for waiting with her." The teen gave him a polite bow of the head.

Tom stayed on the floor against the wall, figuring that Dumbledore was going to want to talk to him about the mysterious attack and how he miraculously knew the counter-curse. He wasn't expecting that the first face he'd see would be the Minister of Magic's. James Potter walked out and stopped in front of Tom, who looked at him, warily. "I hear that it was you who saved him," he said.

"Well, I wouldn't have even been able to do anything if Granger hadn't been there. She kept him alive long enough for me to actually fix him." _Why, Tom, are you giving the praise to someone else? This is the Minister of Magic, you should be trying to impress him! Though, it's not like I want people to think that I'm just going to go around saving people, maybe I should've let him die._

"Regardless, thank you. If there's anything I can do for you to repay you. Please, let me, I insist."

Tom thought about it, _this a great opportunity. I can use this easily,_ "Let me into the Order."

"What Order?" James tried to act befuddled, but Tom could see the slight panic in his eyes.

"The Order of the Phoenix, Harry told me about it a month ago, he was drunk," Tom got a great feeling of satisfaction from slightly tarnishing James' perfect son's image.

"Let's not tell his mother about that last bit, but I'll talk to the boss about it, see what I can do."

Tom shook the Minister's outreached hand, "I'll look forward to hearing from you soon, Minister." Tom let his perfect mask slip up just a little as he walked away and smirked to himself.

 _This spy thing is getting progressively easier,_ he thought as he strode down the corridor with the air of success hanging about him.

 **A/N: sorry for the long wait! Like really really sorry. We both got jobs and have no time/energy for anything anymore. We'll get more consistent once school is over (end of May).**


	10. Chapter 10

_Disclaimer: All characters and elements of the world of Harry Potter belong to the great JK Rowling, we are not her._

Chapter Ten: Headlines

 **December 18, 1996**

Indubitably, Tom had to suffer through Snape's inquisition as to why Tom felt the need to save Harry Potter's life. Tom told Snape that it was because if he had just sat by and did nothing, nobody would ever trust him and he would cease to be useful, besides, he added, it was better that he had saved Potter's life as now he could begin supplying actually useful information. Being in the Order was the only reason Tom was alive right now.

It was the first day of the Christmas holidays and for the first time in his Hogwarts career, Tom was leaving the school to spend the holidays with a family. Not his family, granted; but a family nonetheless. Tom strode out of the Malfoy Manor and apparated to the pre-determined meeting area. He saw Sirius leaning against a tree with a leather jacket and his wand dangling between his elegant fingers.

Tom was not fooled by the seemingly relaxed pose, he knew that at any second, for any given reason, Sirius could send a curse flying his way. "This way, kiddo," Black nodded towards the seemingly deserted mausoleum. Tom wove his way through the headstones that marked the dry grass. The pair reached a solid gray door. It was simple, Tom noticed, just a regular mausoleum door, although he did see that there were engravings along the sides, in Latin. Thankfully, Tom knew Latin and he was able to decipher that it was just an old quote about death. He glanced over the plain door once more and couldn't help but compare this meeting place to the extravagant hall that his first meeting with The Common Problem had been held in. Even though that was the "evil" group, this Order meeting felt more frowned upon.

Perhaps it was the late hour, or the fact that he was standing in a tomb, but Tom decided he preferred meetings with Snape over this cozy gathering of heroes.

As he walked further into the the room, he heard the door close and watched as Sirius waved his wand, sealing them in. Tom kept his cool facade as Sirius lit up his wand and beckoned for Tom to follow. Sirius led Tom over to the stone casket which he proceeded to pull open. Tom raised an eyebrow, _was one of their initiation stunts grave-robbing?_

He studied Sirius carefully, wondering what this was about. He couldn't see the bottom of the casket, so he wasn't sure what was happening. Then, Sirius put one leg over the edge and fell down. Tom was incredibly confused, _the Order really goes to ridiculous lengths to make their meetings secure,_ he thought.

He cautiously walked to the edge and looked down at slide made of stone, not unlike the one at the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets, though it was quite a bit shorter and illuminated at the end. The older man was standing at the bottom and waved his hand at Tom, "Hello!" he said from the other side, "Hurry up! The meeting's probably already begun."

Tom was stunned; going down a slide to release a beast was one thing, going down to join a bunch of adults in plotting to save the world was another. He elegantly landed at the bottom and followed the older man to where a cluster of chairs were arranged as if they were awaiting some big speaker. "He's just a boy!" cried the plump, ginger woman.

"And he lives with the Malfoys! Who knows what sort of information he could be feeding them! We all know Malfoy is close to that bat-like man," growled a rough voice that didn't come into view until Tom rounded the corner. The man was tall and had choppy hair and numerous, thick scars lining his face. But perhaps the most gruesome part was the bright blue eye that stuck out of his face and was three times the size of his other.

Everyone froze once they noticed Tom lurking in the doorway. Sirius pushed Tom's shoulder, encouraging him to go into the room. He stumbled a bit, but quickly recovered. "By all means, don't stop on my account," Tom said, he could tell it was probably a bit too sassy of a greeting to gain much approval, but he knew that the only acceptance he needed was from Dumbledore and the Potters.

James Potter, walked over to his best friend and Tom, with the usual bounce in his step. "Tom! Good to see you again," he beamed, "Let me introduce you to everyone." And so, Tom found himself being led around the room and introduced to a variety of witches and wizards; few of which were actually notable. Like Alastor "Mad-Eye" Moody, who was the gruff old man who had been speaking against Tom's induction at the beginning. He hadn't shaken Tom's hand. He'd merely looked at him, grumbled his name and hobbled off to speak to someone else. After Mad-Eye, came his official introduction to Mrs. Weasley, the plump ginger woman of whom he had heard much about. Her greeting had been cordial, but he could sense the icy reluctance underneath her motherly expression.

He was led to one of the many random chairs and told by James to stay until Dumbledore arrived. A few people came up to him, but mostly the members avoided Tom or looked at him with skeptical eyes. It seemed like quite a while before Dumbledore finally showed up, looking fantastic in robes of bright tangerine with teal embroidery. Although Tom hated the man,he found himself relieved that he had actually appeared. Dumbledore's eyes swept across the room the usual sparkle dimming when landing upon the Slytherin/Ravenclaw. "Ah, yes," he began, "As I'm sure you've all noticed, we have a new member of the Order. I hope you will all welcome Mr. Tom Slytherin - (At the announcement of his last name, someone in the back of the room yelled "Are you sure it's not Malfoy? Doesn't he live with them?!") - to our ranks with open arms." A mild round of applause, where only James and Lily seemed to really be the ones clapping, circulated the room.

"Now, on to our first topic of business. I'm sure many of you have heard about the recent attempt on Harry Potter's life." As he spoke these words, a solemn air fell over the group. James and Lily looked at each other and then back at Dumbledore who nodded to them. "This heartless attack would have succeeded if not for that young man right there." He directed his hand to Tom and a slightly shocked silence fell throughout the room. Apparently there were some people that didn't know about Tom's un-Slytherin-like rescue. _This is a disaster of an organization_ , Tom thought.

Moody growled from his spot in the crowd, "You expect us to believe that this measly kid saved the life of Harry Potter against dark magic?" Tom couldn't believe his ears, _MEASLY?! Measly?! He's calling me measly? He can't even walk! He doesn't even have two eyes! Does his brain even work? Is he even completely human?_ Tom contained his rage by clenching his fists so tightly that his knuckles turned white and by grinding his teeth together so much he was sure they'd be gone by the time the meeting was over. Dumbledore kept his face impassive as he listened to the man talk. "I understand that you are wary, Alastor, but trust me when I say that Mr. Slytherin is most talented with magic and-" but before he could finish, a fiery red-head stood from her spot and climbed onto the seat of her chair.

"Excuse you, Alastor, but when it comes down to it, the only reason Harry is alive right now is because of this young man, right there. Not only this but, he's been nothing but kind and sweet since the moment I've first met him. We should _all_ know that a name is nothing but a name and does not lend testament to a person's character. If anyone else has any problems with Mr. Slytherin please feel free to take it up with me. Thank you," Lily took her seat once more and her husband spoke up from beside her.

"Yeah! What she said!" He then waved his hand for Dumbledore to continue.

The old man chuckled fondly, before going over the details of the attack, as they were known. "Our prime suspect in this is a man, of perhaps 5 feet 8 inches in height. No details of his face were procured but his robes were of The Common Problem's signature plum coloring. Also, in line with The Common Problem's tendency to use nicknames on their robes, this particular set of robes read TFG, according to Mr. Potter." Tom thought about it, he himself hadn't been given a pair of The Common Problem robes - as it was too much of a liability, and for this he was grateful as he thought the matching robes with the nicknames was a little grade-school esque, nowhere near as cool as having masks would be. Not to mention, plum wasn't as nearly dashing on him as burgundy was - he, was however, familiar with several other members' nicknames. TFG, was not one of them.

While Tom contemplated who the mysterious (wannabe) assassin could be, Dumbledore continued on telling the rest of the Order the story of Harry's attack. _He's making it sound much more extravagant than it really was_ , Tom decided.

The rest of the meeting was a blur, Tom didn't remember anything besides the end, where everyone agreed that Tom probably actually wasn't too completely horrible. One person, a woman with bright pink hair, actually smiled as he left the meeting, that was before she ran smack dab into the wall. Tom stopped walking for a second - _these are Dumbledore's best fighters? Snape will be pleased hear that his gang of plum-adorned baboons are still more qualified than this old man's rag-tag team of ministry employees._

 **A/N: Hey guys! This is super awkward. We are REALLY REALLY sorry for not updating when we said we would. But you know, life goes on. We are finally getting back into the groove of things again and hopefully if all goes right more updates will follow. Again, very sorry and we have 43ish chapters completely outlined they just need to be written :).**

 **I'd like to point out to anyone who hasn't noticed that this story is not 100% serious. It is pretty much a comedy at this point.**

 **Further, we'd like to answer a few reviews :).**

 **tneha: thanks for sticking with us! Hope you liked this intro to the ootp**

 **DianneBaquiran: Thanks! Here's an update though it wasn't very soon :(.**

 **Fey: We are very aware of this, but Tom panicked and its not supposed to be 100% accurate. We took some liberties. Thanks for the review though and we hope that you don't let this dissuade you from our story :).**

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 **Next chapter is… Christmas!**


	11. Chapter 11

_Disclaimer: We all credits go to JK Rowling._

Chapter Eleven: Christmas Wrapping

 **December 25, 1996**

Tom awoke early that morning, as usual. His eyes fluttered and he rolled over onto his back to stretch out his legs; however, upon doing so he found his legs not quite flexing all the way straight as his feet continuously met a barrier at the bottom of his bed. Infuriatingly grumpy, he opened his eyes and looked at the culprit - a small pile of wrapped boxes. He frowned, _what in Merlin's name…_ He turned to look at the calendar, _ah, Christmas._ His face began to relax before he frowned again, he'd never woken up to gifts before. At the orphanage, nobody had any money for gifts and he certainly had never had any friends to give him anything.

He sat straight and apprehensively reached for the smallest of the boxes, the tag read:

 _Tom,_

 _my mother wanted me to send this to you,_

 _Ron._

He frowned, remembering the feisty, red-headed woman and wondered why she would have sent him anything at all; and of course Ronald Weasely would only send him something upon the request of another person. _Maybe its poison,_ he thought, a little irrationally before carefully prying the paper off. He wasn't sure if it was poisoned or not, but the homemade fudge that was enclosed reminded him of his empty stomach; he pushed the thought aside, in favor of opening more of the curious gifts.

The second gift, was a very prim and neatly packaged burgundy box. _Why, my favorite color,_ Tom noticed, _obviously this person knows me well - meaning it could only have come from one person…_ Sure enough, the letter attached to it had Hermione's clean, recognizable handwriting.

 _Dearest Tom,_

 _Happy Christmas!_

 _I hope you're having a good holiday with the Malfoy's. I know they're your family but I personally don't understand how you can stand them. Anyway, I saw this and thought it might help you get a little bit more organized, I've noticed that your backpack is a tad messy (and by a tad I mean I really don't get how you handle it)._

 _Besides, nobody can have enough organizational help._

 _I just wanted to remind you that my parents have offered you refugee from your family, maybe you can come visit sometime before New Year's?_

 _Best wishes,_

 _Hermione_

Tom glanced at the package apprehensively. He needed help with his organizational skills, did he? He slipped a finger under the edge of the burgundy (the beautiful burgundy) paper and carefully tore it away. He finished removing the wrappings and looked down. In his hand was...a book. A day planner, to be exact. He huffed. _I don't need ANY assistance with the planning of my days,_ he thought angrily. How presumptuous of the muggle-born to assume that he needed help with anything in his life. Although...she might have a point about the messy bag. Tom quickly flipped through the planner and noticed that it seemed to be a magical one. It was able to be unlocked by his magic only, would alert him if he had plans on a certain day, and a few other interesting features.

Tom set the planner down next to the fudge and grabbed the next box. It was a little smaller than the one from Hermione but similar in shape and slightly heavier. The wrappings were okay. Not incredibly neat like Hermione's, but not atrocious like the Weasel's.

 _If I had to guess_ , Tom thought, _this is from Potter_.

He opened it and a small note card fell out.

 _Tom,_

 _Hello and Happy Christmas._

 _I hope your holiday is going well._

 _See you soon._

 _Sincerely,_

 _Harry_

He ripped the paper off this one and discovered, to his slight surprise, another book. The back of it was facing Tom, so he flipped it over and read the title on the front - _Quidditch Through the Ages_. What an obvious choice from Potter, but Tom had to admit that it might be nice to read something other than all of the novels and manuals about dark magic the Malfoy's collected in their library; although, he did love those. He set it aside with his other gifts and looked towards the last two gifts. They were just small boxes, with cards attached to the top. They were both fairly basic, wishing him a happy holiday and signed with a name. Luna Lovegood and Neville Longbottom, he vaguely recognized the names as a couple that tended to hang out with Potter's gang. In the box from Longbottom, there was a nice assortment of candies from Honeydukes. Tom dug through the little candies and noted that many of his favorites were in there.

Tom looked at the box from Lovegood warily. The girl was a strange one and who knew what she would deem an acceptable Christmas gift. He carefully lifted it and gave it a gentle shake. There was no sound. He shook it again. Nothing. _Enough of this_ , Tom thought, _you can't take over The Common Problem if you're afraid of a box._ He peeled the lid off, slowly, and was greeted by...another box. Tom sighed. He pulled the next box out and in this one there were miniature copies of what looked like, magazines? He pulled it out and peered at the small font. Still too miniscule to read, he dumped them out and grabbed one. The second his fingers touched the paper, they grew to their full size and Tom was suddenly surrounded by what appeared to be every copy of "The Quibbler" from the year. _WHY ON EARTH WOULD I NEED THIS MANY COPIES OF TRASH, JUST UTTER GARBAGE, USELESS, LIE-FILLED TABLOIDS?_

After having successfully calmed himself down and done with his present-opening, the teen hopped off his bed, put his perfectly ironed clothes on, and made his way down to the dining hall. "Ah, Tom, just the boy I was looking for," Lucius said in his quiet, chilling voice. "Narcissa and I purchased this for you, it just wouldn't be right for a member of our 'family' to not have something so… luxurious and traditional." He handed Tom a long, neatly wrapped box. "Go, ahead," the man said nodding at him to take it.

Tom reached out and unwrapped it by the seams of the paper; he was proud of his ability to unwrap the present and still leave the paper intact. He opened the box slowly and found a silver wizard's watch encrusted with emeralds. It was a bit flashy but he appreciated the thought that now he would have something that all pureblood adults had. The thought had him trying to suppress a grin as he thanked Mr. Malfoy for his generosity. After fastening the watch around his wrist, Tom was still questioning why he had received gifts as he continued down to breakfast. _What makes this year any different than any other year?_

He was so lost in thought on his way down to dinner that he almost did not see the youngest Malfoy in front of him. "Hello, Tom," the boy said, "See the watch father gave me? Said that even though I won't be 17 until June I deserved to have this family heirloom." He held up his wrist where a simple silver watch rested.

"Very nice," Tom drawled, "I, too, received a watch." The shock on the other boy's face when Tom displayed his much more extravagant - and valuable - watch was alone worth the trip to the future that the Slytherin had experienced. Draco turned without saying anything and stormed away. Tom chuckled and glanced to his left where the doors to the Malfoy's extensive library resided. Like a man on a mission, he walked in and found a book he'd read once. It wasn't really one he had liked, but he wrapped it anyway and scribbled a note before finding an owl and sending it away.

 **A/N: Short chapter but holidays! YAY!**

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	12. Chapter 12

Chapter Twelve

 **December 27, 1996**

 _Dear Tom,_

 _I honestly didn't expect to receive a gift from you, so don't worry about giving me something back, I just wanted to be nice._

 _I hope you find the planner useful. Every year for birthdays and holidays. I give these to the boys, and they never use them. Something tells me that you care more than they do, though._

 _Anyway, bye,_

 _Hermione._

 **December 28, 1996**

 _Hermione,_

 _I'm sorry that I didn't buy you anything. I really have no money. Also, don't feel bad, I didn't get anyone anything. I really have no patience when it comes to the holidays. My "family" never treated it as anything, but another day._

 _Anyway, I hope your holidays are better than mine. Draco is being especially whiney, it's humorous at times, but mostly makes me want to drive my head through a wall._

 _You may have to deal with people who don't appreciate your gifts to them, but at least they're not Malfoy._

 _See you when school begins again,_

 _Tom_

 **December 30, 1996**

 _Tom,_

 _I was very glad to hear from you. Unfortunately, my break isn't all that one would hope. My parents cannot seem to get along, my mother is never home and my father, well let's just say its bad._

 _I don't know what's going on, but I hope that you avoid smashing your head in the wall long enough to meet me back at school. I need to have at least some educational competition._

 _Sincerely,_

 _Hermione_

 **December 31, 1996**

 _Tommyboy-_

 _As our American friends say, at least according to Percy, who is back from Texas for the holidays: howdy._

 _Ok, nice talking to you,_

 _Hope you've found someone else to cower behind during our time apart,_

 _Kitty._

 _P.S. My father made me send this._

 **January 1, 1997**

 _Dearest Hermione,_

 _I sincerely hope that your parents get their shit together soon. It is never fair to the child when parents are too irresponsible to care for them properly. Honestly, why even have kids in the first place. Truthfully, you deserve better._

 _Whenever your parents are less than desirable feel free to owl me. Or, you know, I'll be in the library as of two days._

 _Your friend,_

 _Tom_


	13. Chapter 13

_Disclaimer: All credits go to JK Rowling for this one and the previous and all following._

Chapter Thirteen: Let Love Lead the Way

 **January 3, 1997**

Tom was disappointed that he had to deal with the overgrown bat only three days into the new year. He had received a letter in a shocking pink envelope only hours ago. He didn't even have to look at the spiky script on the back to know who it was from and what it contained. So now, here he was on his way to deal with the mastermind and his cronies.

Snape was, as always, dressed hideously. _Does he even own a mirror?_ thought Tom. _How does someone go out and purchase these for him without dying of secondhand embarrassment?_

Without being able to help himself, Tom asked of Snape: "Is there a reason you're wearing pink?"

"It is fuchsia," Snape reprimanded. "Since, you're in a mood today, we'll give you your assignment quickly and you may go before I decide to curse your skin and hair this same color." Snape slowly gritted his teeth harder and harder as he spoke. Clearly, fashion criticism was not welcome.

Snape reached into his pocket and pulled out a matching envelope. _Seriously,_ Tom thought, _who is his supplier?_

Tom took the note wordlessly and strode over to Mr. and Mrs. Malfoy before he had serious cosmetic changes done to him. "Thank you for the shelter," he said. "I shall see you soon. I'll keep an eye on Draco for you, make sure he doesn't get into too much trouble." Narcissa hugged him and wished him well.

The young man left for Kings Cross Station to wait for the Hogwarts Express. He found an empty compartment and for the first time in his life, he looked forward to the company that he knew he would soon have.

 **January 4, 1997**

Tom smiled at the librarian, his most charming smile. He could see the blush rising from her wrinkly neck up to her sagging cheeks. Getting into the Restricted Section was taking some of Tom's best skills.

She left to retrieve what he'd asked for. When she returned, she was holding a thick tome, bound by a leather strap. She handed it over and he flashed her another sweet smile, purposefully brushing his hand against her's as they exchanged the item.

"Giving old women heart attacks is illegal, Tom," Hermione said coming up behind him. He rolled his eyes, gave an apologetic look and shrugged his shoulders before turning away from the librarian.

"What book is it?" she asked him.

"Can't a man have some secrets?" he asked, playfully.

"If you wanted to have secrets, Tom, you shouldn't have told me you would be in the library the minute school resumed."

"I did not realize it was an invitation to stalk me," he rebutted.

"Please, Slytherin, I more pressing matters to attend to than watch you hit on elderly librarians."

"I'm just practicing for our future," he said. She grabbed the book from his hands while avoiding his eyes.

" _A Guide to Forever_ ," she read.

"It's a romance novel," Tom said with a straight face. "One of the characters is a vampire who is in love with a clumsy human. He can't resist how good her blood smells. So there's this whole thing with some dance and his family and her best friend is a werewolf but it's this crazy love triangle and then she marries the vampire and they have this kid and she almost dies and gets turned into a vampire and then the werewolf finds out that the infant is his soulmate."

Hermione gave him a blank look. "OK, that sounds fake," she said. "And I'm questioning your intelligence." Tom was annoyed that she didn't believe that elaborate story he had come up with on the spot. He was rather proud of himself and the level of detail he was able to ad-lib.

"Just because all you read is _Hogwarts, a History_ doesn't mean the rest of us can't add a little variety to our lives."

She looked disgusted, but handed the book back. "Why was it in the restricted section then?"

"Sex," he replied. "Lots of it." Now, she was full on blushing, but looked slightly intrigued.

"Why would anyone want to live forever anyway," she said.

"Well, it's the ultimate power, isn't it?" he argued.

"I think it's the coward's way out, death is a thing for a reason," she said. "If we were supposed to live forever, there wouldn't be a point to anything."

"But if we lived forever, we could make our points by mastering every skill known to man," his voice rose and the librarian gave him a sharp look. He sent a wink her way, and she instantly forgave him with nothing more than a huff. Tom smirked, knowing the power he held over women. And some men.

"No one can handle that much power," Hermione whispers.

"Wrong. I ca-could," Tom stumbled. Tom moved closer to distract her from his slip-up. "Anyone can handle a great amount of power if they have the discipline, Granger." She moved closer to him, his heart picked-up in pace.

She was so close to him that he could see her wild hair trait was also represented by her eyebrows. He was momentarily distracted by it. It was almost charming.

Hermione on the other hand, was captivated by his unbelievably straight nose and clear skin, _how is this man a teenager,_ she thought.

Their heads moved closer and closer and with all the courage she could muster, Hermione closed the distance between them and lightly touched her lips to his.

Her eyes fluttered shut, his shot wide open. His first thought was, nothing. He could not think of anything at the moment. Her first thought was, _Holy cow this is so much better than kissing Ron._

After about a second of kissing, Tom pulled away stiffly, and said, "I uh gotta go somewhere that you are not." He pressed his book against his stomach, spun on his heel and quickly exited.

Hermione looked at the librarian who was still standing right next to them across the desk.

"He made some interesting points about power," the librarian said.

Hermione blinked and said, "Do I go after him?"

"Honey, I gave up on men when Grindelwald was still around."

Hermione adjusted her bag on her shoulder and followed the boy out. When she entered the corridor she saw Tom with Kitty and Remus. She arrived just in time to hear him yell, "WHY ARE WOMEN ALWAYS AROUND!" before running off. Remus looked at Hermione in question, Kitty looked at Remus in question.

"Remus, am I a woman?" the 11-year-old asked.

"Uhhh, I'm going to let your dad take care of that question," he said. "Hey, it's Hermione! Why don't you two girls walk back to the common room while I go to see what's up with Tom."

Hermione shook her head, "There's no point. Just leave him, Tom doesn't care about anything he just likes to pretend and then when it gets real, he runs."

 **Author's Note:**

 **First of all, SORRY. Second of all, We. Are. Back. We promise. We even made a schedule to meet up and write.**

 **We feel like we should explain. College. Work. Life. Living 30 minutes apart. Differing schedules. It's hard. But we have a renewed dedication and energy and passion for Straight Outta 1943. If it takes us a couple chapters to get back into the same level of quality content that so many of you have told us you appreciate, bear with us.**

 **Further, thank you to everyone who has followed, favorited and reviewed. Considering it's been a year, it'll be too hard to individually thank everyone like we have in the past. However we will reply to the reviews.**

 **Sammmyyy boiii: We're glad you think its interesting. Sorry for the wait. Please keep clicking.**

 **Oslca35: We really appreciate your kindness. We get that it's been a while, but hope you keep up the interest and comments. We'll try to work in the dental care.**

 **Guest: uh maybe read the rest of the chapters before commenting like that. It's a slow-burning romance.**

 **HootSiblingOne: Sorry you're dead. Hope we get an invite to the funeral. Glad you love it, sorry you hate us. Kitty loves you too.**

 **Expect the next update in two weeks.**


	14. Chapter 14

_Disclaimer: we own literally nothing except Kitty_

Chapter Fourteen: Say No to This

 **January 4, 1997**

Tom was laying on his bed with his fingers folded across his stomach. He could not stop pondering the consequences that could develop from a, dare he say it, relationship. He'd never gone down that path before, it was completely unfamiliar territory. Sure, he'd kissed girls before, but it never meant anything. He doubted this particular girl would allow him to get away with anything less than a commitment.

But he wanted Power. Not a wife. Everyone knew once you took a girl out on some dates, it was basically a proposal. Although he doubted Hermione would be like that. In fact, it seemed that most of the girls in this time period were more likely to get involved in something casual, or flit between boys like they were new lipsticks.

Besides, being with someone of her - parentage - would put both of them in danger in the eyes of The Common Problem. Even if he wanted to get involved with her, which he told himself he didn't, Snape would never let it progress.

However, a relationship could be a good way to get information from Potter. But hurting his friend, would not be. And the thought of hurting the girl really wasn't all that appealing to him.

The cons seemed to outweigh the pros in the list he mentally formed.

It seemed to Tom that a decision had been made. He had to tell Hermione that what had happened could not happen again. He felt a strange tug in his chest at the thought of not getting to kiss her again. _Hormones_ , he thought.

Hermione found her best friends snuggled together on the plushiest armchair in the Gryffindor common room. She sat down across from them and said nothing for a moment. It was almost as if Ginny could sense her distress, however, because within a few seconds the redhead demanded to know, "What happened?"

Hermione sighed, "I found Tom reading an erotic book and then we kissed."

Harry snorted. "What is this? A porno?"

Ginny looked at her, "Is there more to this or are you and Tom just planning on defiling the library?"

Hermione rolled her eyes, "Guys! This is serious! He totally freaked out, yelled at Kitty, and ran off to Merlin knows where!"

"You kissed him in front of Kitty? Why would you you scar her for life like that?" Harry asked, always overprotective of his little cousin.

Hermione groaned. She wasn't explaining this well. "No, no. OK, what happened was we were discussing immortality -"

"As one does," interrupted Ginny. Hermione gave her friend a sour look.

"And we got super close and I kissed him. Or he kissed me. I'm not sure," she blushed as she talked. "Then, he freaked out and ran away. Only, Remus and Kitty were in the corridor and he freaked out on them."

Harry's eyebrows rose above his glasses. "So did he freak out because you were a bad kisser or because of some other reason we're supposed to magically know?"

Ginny whacked her boyfriend on the shoulder. "Don't be rude. Clearly he freaked out because he's a man who's afraid of a strong independent woman. Like most men."

Harry nodded. "Clearly."

Hermione shrugged, "I really don't know. He usually seems fine with me being strong and independent."

"Maybe it's a commitment issue," said Neville. They all turned their heads slightly, they'd forgotten the boy was there, while Hermione had just not noticed him.

"That is the only useful comment "I've heard this entire conversation, Neville," Hermione said, nodding her head at him. "I highly doubt Tom ran off because of my kissing skills, Harry."

Ginny looked at her friend with a steely gaze, "You should go after him. Talk some sense into that boy, or at the very least make a decision about what the hell is going on between you two. We all need answers, we're dying. Especially Ron. He doesn't know how to talk to you, or him, anymore."

Hermione nodded, she would have to have the most uncomfortable conversation any two people could have.

"OK, I like him, I do. I'll talk to him and tell him that and if he reacts negatively then that's that," Hermione stated. "Tomorrow though, I'll let him calm down a bit."

Hermione got up, said goodbye, and set off toward her bed. She needed rest and time to think over how exactly she was going to say any of this to Tom. But mostly, she just really didn't want him to turn her down.

 **January 5, 1997**

Hermione stared at Tom from the Gryffindor table, wanting nothing more than to kiss him again and run her fingers through his delightful hair. After staying up for much of the night her mind had become even more set. She was going to tell Tom Slytherin that she fancies him. And he would probably laugh in her face and give her feedback on how to improve her kissing.

She took a deep breath, pushed her plate away, and stood up. She was going to do this. She walked past the Hufflepuff table and stopped when she reached Tom, sitting towards the end of the Ravenclaw table.

"Can I speak to you alone for a second," she asked him. To her surprise, he nodded.

"I think that's a good idea," he said.

He motioned for her to go ahead of him and she led the way out of the Great Hall. Once they were standing in the Entrance Hall, she turned and faced him. He looked as he always did- calm and unruffled. Tom played what he'd rehearsed in his head over and over, _You're great, but I'm really just trying to focus on school right now. I don't think it would be a good idea._

"I like you," she said point blank. "A lot." She'd decided last night as she tried to sleep that bluntness would be the best route when it came to Tom.

His mouth dropped open for a brief second before he snapped it shut and regained his composure. _OK, just say it, just like I rehearsed,_ he thought.

"I like you too," he said instead.

"Great, so what does that mean? For us, I mean," she asked him. She wasn't sure what to say, she hadn't prepared for this outcome. Tom was equally phased.

"I'm not sure. Is this just it? Are we in a relationship now?" He wondered, looking only slightly terrified at the idea of it, on the inside he was full on panicking though. _WHAT ARE YOU DOING,_ his insides screamed at him, but he pushed them away.

"I think that would be good. Do you agree?" Hermione asked him.

Tom nodded.

Then, not knowing what to do, he stuck out his hand. She took it and they shook, smiling shyly at each other.

"Boo!" came a little voice from behind Tom. He turned. "Kiss her already!" Kitty said. "That was the lamest exchange I've ever seen."

Tom blushed without his control, but he looked at Hermione and took her face in the palm of his hand. Then, ever so slowly, he bent down for their lips to meet.

For the first time in his life, he was entirely happy.

 **A/N: SORRY. We met up to write two weeks ago only to realize that the Google accounts that we'd used to create our plans for the story were deleted. Meaning we no longer had any of our original plans for the story which was about 30 more chapters. Because there was so much and so many details planned for Straight Outta 1943 that we no longer had, we decided to move forward in a different direction with the story. We've planned a new ending and substantially less chapters to get us there. So we spent the time we'd allotted for writing planning the new route.**

 **But, here is finally a new chapter and we're excited to see where the new direction takes us.**

 **Thank you to everyone who has read, favorited and/or followed us.**

 **shatakshee dhoundiyal: Thank you, we're trying**

 **Guest: Thanks! It takes two people to come up with the jokes**


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